'Israel' to follow US model, use armed drones in occupied West Bank

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
29 Sep 19:23
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The Israeli occupation will be able to conduct drone strikes however it wishes in the occupied West Bank.

A Israeli occupation soldier launches an Israeli drone used for monitoring purposes (AFP)

The Israeli occupation forces will start using armed drones for targeted killings of what "Tel Aviv" describes as "terrorists" in the occupied West Bank, The Jerusalem Post reported on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The Israeli newspaper said IOF commanders in the occupied West Bank were permitted by "Tel Aviv" to use armed drones for targeted killings, with the approval of Israeli Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi.

The occupation's troops have been granted the "green light" to take matters into their own hands and use drones to conduct offensive strikes on Palestinian resistance groups that "pose an imminent threat to the Israeli military", the Israeli outlet said. Previously, the drones' role was only providing cover and reconnaissance for the IOF.

Through this step, the Israeli occupation is following the model of the United States, which has been conducting air and drone strikes against its targets for years, most prominently under the Obama administration.

Through its arbitrary drone strikes, the United States assassinated the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps' Al-Quds Brigade, Brigadier General Qassem Soleimani. The assassination stoked tensions between Washington and Tehran and gave rise to fears about a third World War.

Using drone strikes allows the Israeli occupation to evade accountability the same way the US has been for years. Around a year ago, on August 29, the United States in Afghanistan tracked a white Toyota for 8 hours and wrongly identified its owner, Ezmarai Ahmadi, as an ISIS-K militant before targeting the car with a missile and murdering seven children and three adults.

A senior US general admitted the attack was a mistake, and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin apologized to the victims' relatives - an act that was seen as "not enough" by Ahamdi's 22-year-old nephew, Farshad Haidari.

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he did not know whether the person killed by the US drone strike was an aid worker or an ISIS-K operative when asked about the strike before the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee.

The arbitrary and brutal execution of 10 civilians took place in the final hours of America's withdrawal from the country after it carried out a very chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, which saw hundreds upon hundreds flocking toward the airport, stampedes, and abandoned allies.

An investigation by the Pentagon concluded that the airstrike was an "honest mistake" and no legal or disciplinary action was recommended afterward. This caused outrage among human rights groups, activists, and the US Congress itself.