Israel Navy ship seriously damaged off Beirut coast

[bemildred]

Sort of cross post from LBN. Elsewhere I saw a purported eye-witness statement that it sank.

An explosives-laden drone, apparently launched by Hezbollah, hit an Israel Navy warship off the coast of Beirut, causing serious damage to its steering capability, Israel Defense Forces confirmed Friday night.

The incident occurred at around 8:30 P.M., as the ship was some 16 kilometers from the Lebanese coast. The blast caused a fire close to the helicopter landing pad onboard. The ship's steering mechanism also sustained some damage.

Several hours after the vessel was hit, an Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman said the damage was worse than originally thought. She added that the ship, still burning, was being towed back to Israel. There were some 80 people on board the ship when it was hit.

Haaretz

[HereSince1628]

1. Apparently that possibility wasn't on their radar.

[bemildred]

2. I thought about it, but didn't give it much credence.

Mostly because of the history of blather and lies on the subject of drones. The idea seemed sound enough. The US military is fond of theirs. But I would guess these are simpler than Predators. I guess the notion will have to be taken seriously now.

[Poll_Blind]

3. We (the U.S.) pulled a tug out of Haifa about the same time this...

...happened. I wonder if the U.S. is the one doing the towing. How damned symbolic.

  Information was from a news clip I watched on YouTube either from CNN or MSNBC, IIRC. They mentioned it in passing, that the U.S. tug was leaving Haifa- the official explanation was because of the attacks there.

PB

[bemildred]

4. Maybe. I thought that was before this happened.

But it's hard to be sure with the fog of war. And if it was sitting out there, it might have been sent to do the job. I'm wondering about the "it sunk" claims too.

[Sherman A1]

5. Speaking of Fog of War

Is it at all possible that perhaps that our lovable Israeli's did this one to themselves? I recall last night watching the "Fox News Crew gets shot at by someone" video and I think he mentioned that Israeli drones were flying about, among other things. I think it's possible that the Israelis might have had a little friendly fire incident in the confusion of all this rearranging the landscape with high explosives. Just a thought.......

[bemildred]

6. Heh. Interesting question.

Would the IDF tell the truth to keep Hizbullah from lying to take credit for it?
Damn if I know. We do have the second one that missed and hit an Egyptian boat,
but that seems to have been a rocket.

[bemildred]

7. Now saying the Egyptian boat might have been damaged

in the drone attack. I think things are still pretty confused.

[occuserpens]

8. Hizballah uses the attack drone

2006-07-14 Hizballah uses the attack drone