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[–] 19296524? ago 

2:40 pm

After downing drone, Iran warns US against entering its airspace

Iran’s foreign ministry has warned the United States over violating Iranian airspace after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps shot down a US drone earlier in the day.

A ministry spokesman, Abbas Mousavi, is quoted by the semiofficial Tasnim news agency as saying that Iran cannot condone the “illegal trespassing and invading of the country’s skies by any kind of foreign flying object.”

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says it shot down the American drone over Iranian airspace, while US officials say it happened over international airspace in the Strait of Hormuz.

Mousavi expresses Iran’s “strong objection” and adds that the “invaders will bear full responsibility.”

— AP

2:48 pm

US military says drone was downed in international airspace by SAM missile

The United States military command responsible for American forces in the Middle East confirms a US drone downed by Iran was hit with a surface-to-air missile in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz.

“Iranian reports that the aircraft was over Iran are false,” a CENTCOM spokesman says in a statement.

“This was an unproved attack on a US surveillance asset in international airspace,” the spokesman adds.

4:15 pm

Putin says US attack on Iran would be catastrophic

Russian President Vladimir Putin is warning the US against using force against Iran, saying it would have catastrophic consequences.

Tensions have been building up recently over last week’s attacks on tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, assaults that Washington has blamed on Iran. Iran has denied the accusations.

Speaking on Thursday during a televised call-in show, Putin says the US military action against Iran would be a “catastrophe for the region as a minimum.”

He adds that it would trigger an escalation of hostilities with unpredictable results.

Putin notes that Iran has abided by the terms of a nuclear deal despite the US withdrawal, adding that he considers US sanctions against Iran unfounded.

— AP

5:10 pm

IDF wraps up major drill simulating war against Hezbollah

The Israeli military completes a massive exercise simulating war against the Hezbollah terror group — its largest drill in two years — in a first test of army chief Aviv Kohavi’s new strategy for the Israel Defense Forces.

The five-day drill began on Sunday, with ground troops, the air force and navy taking part in the exercise, which included fighting on multiple fronts simultaneously.

“The exercise trained the troops for combat involving multiple branches of the military in an urban battlefield, against an enemy that disappears, who is dug into underground [infrastructure] and is equipped with advanced weaponry,” the army says in a statement.

Thousands of infantry soldiers participated in the exercise — dubbed “First Harvest” — along with armored units and other ground forces; drones, helicopters and fighter jets conducted both night and day flights during the drill; and a number of naval vessels and units simulated the type of fighting they’re likely to face in a war in Lebanon.

The IDF says a number of new capabilities and strategies that are part of Kohavi’s multi-year plan were tested in the exercise, including new offensive and defensive maneuvering techniques, better use of special forces, improved artillery fire and the widespread use of large and small drones.

The military said this was its largest drill since the 2017 “Light of the Grain” exercise, which was itself the IDF’s largest exercise in nearly 20 years.

In addition to offensive maneuvers, the military says it also simulated “large-scale rocket fire” that air defense units “would have to spot and intercept.” Hezbollah is believed to possess an arsenal of over 100,000 rockets and mortar shells, as well as a small number of advanced precision-guided missiles.

The Israeli military believes that thousands of these projectiles of various ranges and explosive capabilities would rain down on the country during a future war. Most of these inaccurate rockets would land in open fields, but the overwhelming number of them would cause significant amounts of damage, injuries and deaths throughout Israel, including potentially in key strategic sites.

— Judah Ari Gross

Source: https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-june-20-2019/

Archive: http://archive.fo/JifCO