Israeli Navy Shoots Down Drone Near Karish Offshore Gas Field

On Saturday, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported that an Israeli Navy warship shot down a drone off the coast of Haifa, near the Karish gas field. Israeli forces believe that the UAV was launched by Hezbollah, and was likely conducting surveillance at the Karish gas field. 

The IDF says that an Israeli corvette used the naval version of its Iron Dome air defense system to shoot down the incoming threat long before it reached the gas field, and that it never posed a serious threat. Security forces told Jerusalem Post that a real drone attack would have involved multiple UAVs in order to increase the chance of reaching the target, and that it was likely a propaganda mission rather than an actual attempt at sabotage. 

The Karish field is an offshore natural gas reservoir off the coast of Haifa. It began production in 2022, immediately after a historic boundary demarcation agreement between the Lebanese and Israeli governments cleared the way for development. From the field's FPSO, the Energean Power, gas is piped to shore and sold to power utilities.

Israeli defense sources expect that Hezbollah will likely leak footage from the drone for propaganda purposes. Hezbollah recently released drone videos purporting to show detailed surveillance of areas in Haifa and the Golan Heights, including the Haifa naval base, shipyards, military infrastructure and forward positions used by the Israeli Army - some as far as 25 nautical miles south of the Lebanese border. The videos drew controversy because Israeli airspace is tightly controlled and well-defended, and the presence of a free-roaming drone was a warning that Hezbollah might be able to reach sensitive targets if it chose to do so. 

Since the start of hostilities in Gaza last fall, Hezbollah and Israel have engaged cross-border strikes on a regular basis. Hezbollah has used suicide drones regularly in these attacks, and about two dozen have reached their targets, killing about 30 Israeli civilians and servicemembers. 

The Lebanese terrorist group receives extensive technical support from the Iranian military, and uses many of the same Iranian drones as Yemen's notorious Houthi rebels.