Hizbullah's Tech

Hizbullah's accusations that Israel engineered the assassination of former Lebanese prime miniser Rafiq Hariri are, of course, ridiculous, but Nasrallah's speech yesterday did contain something noteworthy:

"The most significant and surprising piece of evidence came in the form of footage obtained from Israeli unmanned surveillance drones. Nasrallah revealed that Hizbullah had acquired the technical ability, some time in the early 1990s, to tap into the direct video feeds that passed from the many reconnaissance drones circulating in Lebanon's skies to the Israeli military command. What kind of qualitative edge did this breakthrough afford the party, and what implications would it have upon the five-year-long investigation into Hariri's murder?

"This technological leap forward, said Nasrallah, enabled the party to study the areas under Israeli surveillance, which in some cases provided valuable counter-espionage information. On one such occasion in 1996, Hizbullah used this intelligence to lay an ambush at a spot they believed would be the scene of a future operation. Several months later, they were proven right when Israeli naval commandoes landed off the coast of Lebanon and proceeded precisely to that spot, near the village of Ansariyya, where a bloody firefight ensued."

Nasrallah's speech not only gave its supporters something to argue about the Hariri assassination, but further highlighted its position as the most capable and successful anti-Israel group within the Arab world.