This image made from video released by the Israeli Defense Forces shows the downing of a drone that entered Israeli airspace in southern Israel, Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012. Israeli jets scrambled to intercept... (Associated Press) 
 
 Israeli warplanes swooped low over Lebanese villages Sunday in a menacing show of force apparently aimed at the Hezbollah guerrilla group after a mysterious raid by an unmanned aircraft that was shot out of Israeli skies over the weekend. 
 
 Israel was still investigating Saturday's incident, but Hezbollah quickly emerged as the leading suspect because it has an arsenal of sophisticated Iranian weapons and a history of trying to deploy similar aircraft. 
 
 The Israeli military said the drone approached Israel's southern Mediterranean coast and flew deep into Israeli airspace before warplanes shot it down about 20 minutes later. Israeli news reports said the drone was not carrying explosives and appeared to be on a reconnaissance mission. 
 
 Military officials would not say where the drone originated or who produced it, but they ruled out the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by Hamas, a group not known to possess drones. That left Hezbollah as the most likely culprit and suggested the drone may have flown with the blessing of Iran. Tensions are high between Israel and Iran over Tehran's suspect nuclear program. 
 
 "It is an Iranian drone that was launched by Hezbollah," Israeli lawmaker Miri Regev, a former chief spokeswoman for the Israeli military, wrote on her Twitter feed. "Hezbollah and Iran continue to try to collect information in every possible way in order to harm Israel." 
 
 She did not offer any further evidence and was not immediately available for comment. 
 
 Hezbollah officials would not comment on speculation that the group had launched the drone. 
 
 The Israeli dailies Yediot Ahronot and Maariv published maps based on military "estimates" that claimed to show the route taken by the drone. 
 
 The maps said the aircraft took off south of the Lebanese coastal city of Sidon, headed south and then turned east over the Gaza Strip and into Israel. Yediot also claimed the drone was made in Iran. 
 
 The Israeli military said it began tracking the aircraft over the Mediterranean but waited until it was over an empty, desert area to bring it down in order to avoid casualties on the ground. 
 
 Sunday's Israeli air raids, buzzing over pro-Hezbollah villages in southern Lebanon, appeared to be aimed at reminding the guerrilla group of Israel's air superiority. 
 
 At times of heightened tensions, the Israeli air force often carries out mock raids over Lebanese territory. Israel has U.S.-made F-15 and F-16 warplanes, but it was not clear exactly what type of planes were flown Sunday. 
 
 Lebanon's national news agency said the planes flew low over the market town of Nabatiyeh and nearby villages. 
 
 With a formidable arsenal that rivals that of the Lebanese army, Hezbollah is already under pressure in Lebanon from rivals who accuse it of putting Lebanon at risk of getting sucked into regional turmoil. Confirmation that Hezbollah was behind the drone would put the group under further strain internally. 
 
 Hezbollah, a powerful Shiite group committed to Israel's destruction, has long served as an Iranian proxy along Israel's northern border. The two sides fought a brutal, monthlong war in mid-2006. Hundreds of people were killed, and Hezbollah fired several thousand rockets and missiles into Israel before the conflict ended in a stalemate. 
 
 Hezbollah has attempted to send unmanned aerial vehicles into Israel on several occasions dating back to 2004. Its leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, has claimed that the group's pilotless aircraft were capable of carrying explosives and striking deep into Israel. The last known attempt by Hezbollah to use a drone took place during the 2006 war, when Israel shot down an Iranian-made pilotless aircraft that entered Israeli airspace. 
 
 Since the fighting ended, the sides have been locked in a covert battle against one another. 
 
 "The war between Hezbollah and Israel was not extinguished at any moment, be it in the media or at the intelligence level," said Ibrahim Bayram, an expert on Shiite affairs who often writes about Hezbollah for Lebanon's An-Nahar newspaper. 
 
 "Israel is always trying to breach Hezbollah's security and in return Hezbollah is also working day and night to breach Israel's security," he added. 
 
 Hezbollah has accused Israel of assassinating a top Hezbollah operative in 2008 in Syria. The group and Lebanese officials say they have broken up several Israeli spy rings inside Lebanon over the past few years. 
 
 Israel, meanwhile, believes Hezbollah, with Iranian backing, is behind a string of attempted attacks on Israeli diplomatic targets in India, Thailand and the former Soviet republic of Georgia, plus a deadly bombing earlier this year that killed five Israeli tourists in a Bulgarian resort. Last week, Israel announced the arrest of an Arab citizen it accused of spying for Hezbollah, the latest in a string of such cases. 
 
 Many speculated that the aircraft was trying to gather intelligence on Israel's secretive nuclear reactor in the southern desert town of Dimona. Foreign experts believe the facility houses an arsenal of nuclear weapons, a claim that Israel neither confirms nor denies. 
 
 "It's quite a long distance, indicating a high level of sophistication," said Shlomo Brom, a retired Israeli general who is now an analyst at the Institute for National Security Studies, an Israeli think tank. 
 
 The drone flight also came against the broader backdrop of rising tensions between Israel and Iran. 
 
 Israel accuses Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons, which it believes would threaten its existence, given the repeated calls by Iranian leaders for the destruction of Israel. Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. 
 
 Israeli leaders have repeatedly held out the possibility of attacking Iranian nuclear facilities if they conclude that international sanctions and diplomacy have failed to curb the Iranian program. 
 
 Iran, in turn, has threatened to retaliate if it is attacked, raising the possibility of Hezbollah unleashing more rockets and missiles into Israel. Hezbollah has not said how it will react to an Israeli attack on its benefactor. 
 
 Iran recently claimed it now has drones capable of carrying missiles as far as 2,000 kilometers, or 1,250 miles, putting much of the Middle East, including Israel, within distance. The aircraft appeared to be similar to the American RQ-170 Sentinel, one of which went down in Iranian territory last year. Iran said it was building a copy of the RQ-170 in April. 
 
 Iran frequently makes announcements about its strides in military technology, but it is virtually impossible to independently determine the capabilities of its weapons. 
 
 Yiftah Shapir, another analyst at the INSS, said Saturday's incident may have been meant as a warning to Israel. 
 
 "The drone could be a message that they have the capability to pull this off, and do so perhaps with weapons," he said. 
 
 He said Israel likely allowed the drone to fly so far into its airspace, instead of shooting it over the sea, in order to analyze its capabilities before taking it down. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Federman reported from Jerusalem. Lauren E. Bohn in Jerusalem contributed to this report. ||||| A Lebanese TV channel affiliated with Hezbollah reported Sunday that the drone that infiltrated Israeli airspace on Saturday belonged to the Shiite terror group. 
 
 According to a report in Al-Mayadeen, "the drone traveled 100 kilometers deep inside Israel and sparked tensions." Hezbollah has yet to comment on the report. 
 
 Related stories: 
 
 Al-Mayadeen is the same channel that aired the video documenting the abduction of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. It is considered a rising force in Arab media and serves as an alternative to Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya. 
 
 Its founder, Tunisian journalist Ghassan bin Jiddo, is considered closely tied to Hezbollah and was the only journalist to interview Hassan Nasrallah during the Second Lebanon War. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Yatir forest where drone was shot down (Photo: Haim Hornstein) 
 
 On Saturday, most Arab media reports pointed to the Islamic Jihad as the likely force behind the launching of the drone. A senior official in the terror group denied any connection to the incident on Sunday. 
 
 However, a source close to the Islamic Jihad did not rule out the possibility that Gaza terror groups own a drone similar to the one Israel downed and noted they have the necessary experience on how to use it "for self-defense purposes in a conflict with Israel." 
 
 Meanwhile, defense officials estimate that the drone started its mission in Lebanon, most likely to gather intelligence and check the IDF's reaction. It is possible it was headed to the Dimona reactor. 
 
 Operating a drone by remote control from such a long distance requires advanced capabilities, which Israel was not aware Hezbollah had acquired. 
 
 Israel is still considering its response. 
 
 Yonatan Gonen contributed to this report 
 
 Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter 
 
 ||||| Jeering tone: Reporting of the infiltration of a drone into Israeli airspace, Iranian news websites on Sunday quoted Israeli reports suggesting the unmanned aircraft may have been sent by Hezbollah with Iran's help. 
 
 The reports said that the infiltration indicates a failure in Israel's air defenses. Tehran officials have yet to comment on the incident. 
 
 Related stories: 
 
 Lebanese report: Hezbollah behind drone mission 
 
 
 
 Israel checking: Was drone headed to Dimona? 
 
 A report by Javan Online, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, said that the incident was a failure on the part of the Iron Dome – Israel's anti-missile system which is usually deployed in the Gaza vicinity area. 
 
 The report noted that the Negev region, where the drone was downed, is very important to Israel "for that is where it digs uranium, in the Arad and Sodom area." 
 
 This likely refers to reports that the company headed by former Mossad Chief Meir Dagan is digging for the radioactive metallic element in the Negev. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Simulation of an Iranian drone (Photo: CC Aspahbod) 
 
 The popular Tabnak website, affiliated with former Revolutionary Guards commander Mohsen Rezaee, said that the details of the event "show mainly how weak the Zionist regime's radar systems are." 
 
 The website stressed that any Iranian connection "is an unconfirmed contention which has yet to be verified by Israeli officials." 
 
 Meanwhile, no organization has claimed responsibility for the launching of the drone. However, the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen reported that the aircraft belongs to Hezbollah. 
 
 Lebanon's state news agency said Israeli warplanes have staged mock raids over villages in southern Lebanon, breaking the sound barrier. 
 
 The National News Agency says the planes flew low over the market town of Nabatiyeh and nearby villages on Sunday. 
 
 AP contributed to this report 
 
 Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter 
 

– Israeli fighter planes flew low over Lebanese towns today in apparent retaliation for a mysterious drone that crossed Israel this weekend, the AP reports. The military didn't directly blame Hezbollah—a powerful Shiite group in Lebanon—for the drone, but Haaretz pointed a finger at them and an Israeli lawmaker put it bluntly: "It is an Iranian drone that was launched by Hezbollah," tweeted Miri Regev. "Hezbollah and Iran continue to try to collect information in every possible way in order to harm Israel." Meanwhile, a Lebanese, Hezbollah-affiliated TV channel reported that the aircraft was in fact launched in Lebanon, reports YNet News. Iranian news websites also took a crack at the story, reporting that the drone revealed a weakness in Israel's missile defense system, reports YNet News. One Iranian site, Javan Online, noted that the region where the drone was downed is key to Israel "for that is where it digs uranium, in the Arad and Sodom area"—an apparent dig over Israel's negative stance on Iran's nuclear facilities.