( CNN ) -- In a video uploaded to YouTube on Saturday purportedly by the terrorist group ISIS , various scenes of jihadist propaganda flash across the screen : militants reading verses from the Quran and examining a map of northern Syria , clips of violent clashes and explosions . But this video had something else in it that previous videos released by ISIS have not : Surveillance footage apparently shot by a drone . The almost 14-minute video shows aerial views of Syrian Army Military Base 93 near Raqqa province in northern Syria . ISIS militants attacked the base on August 7 , deploying suicide bombers driving truck bombs to soften up resistance in scenes that are also shown in the videotape that was released Saturday . The caption over the surveillance footage of the Syrian military base reads : `` From the drone of the army of the Islamic State . '' That ISIS appears now to be using a relatively sophisticated surveillance drone to plan its military operations underlines an important development : Technology that was once the monopoly of states is now being used by terrorist groups . In April , for example , the Israeli military said it had shot down a drone off the coast of Haifa and that it was operated by Hezbollah , the militant Shiite group operating out of Lebanon . Hezbollah denied responsibility for the drone , but had claimed earlier that it had operated another drone that had flown 35 miles into Israel in October . Hamas , too , has drone capabilities . On July 14 , Israel shot down a Hamas-operated drone that was flying in Israeli airspace above Ashdod , a city in southern Israel , marking what is believed to be the first time the militant group had sent an unmanned aircraft into Israeli territory . Hamas then posted a video online that showed another drone , this one with four small rockets under its wings , flying over what analysts believe could also be Israeli airspace . According to Hamas , its military wing , the al-Qassam Brigades , has engineered three different types of drones : ones for surveillance purposes ; ones that can be armed ; and ones that can operate as self-guided missiles -- a sort of `` suicide drone . '' Israel subsequently bombed what it claimed was a Hamas-run drone facility in Gaza . Libyan opposition fighters targeting Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi started using drones for surveillance during the summer of 2011 when they bought a Scout drone from a Canadian company . The Libyan opposition needed a way to survey its routes before sending rebels into areas where Gadhafi 's soldiers were stationed . The four-rotor helicopter that dangles a stabilized camera seemed like the perfect option . The drone cost between $ 100,000 and $ 200,000 , according to an article by Laura Rozen for Yahoo News . Armed drones have been deployed in combat by only three countries : the United States , the United Kingdom and Israel . However , according to a count by the New America Foundation , some 80 countries have some kind of drone capability , whether armed or unarmed . Russia , China and Iran are among the nations that possess armed drones but have n't used them in combat . That terrorist and militant organizations have acquired and used drones during combat operations for surveillance purposes shows how rapidly this technology is proliferating . This is why it is crucial to have some kind of international agreement that governs the use of armed drones by both states and `` nonstate actors . '' One could imagine the creation of some kind of Geneva Convention that specifies as a matter of international law when the use of armed drones could be sanctioned outside of conventional war zones to kill terrorists . Such a convention would also help to prevent the sale or transfer of sophisticated drone technology to nonstate actors such as ISIS .
Peter Bergen , Cynthia Schneider : Video seems to show that ISIS has surveillance drone . They say this highlights new reality : Terrorist groups have technology once used by states . They say Hezbollah says it has used them ; Hamas says it has armed and unarmed drones . Writers : Some 80 nations now have drones . The U.S. is the only country with a fully operational drone.