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After drone, Israel deploys missile defense unit

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After drone, Israel deploys missile defense unitISRAEL OUT, FILE - In this Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012 file photo, an Israeli army helicopter lands in an open area as soldiers search for the remains of a drone in the Negev southern Israel. Israeli warplanes on Sunday staged a series of mock air raids over southern Lebanese villages, officials said, setting off earth-shaking sonic booms in an apparent message to the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah following a mysterious raid by an unmanned aircraft shot down over Israeli skies over the weekend. (AP Photo/Yehuda Lachiani, File) (Credit: AP)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military has deployed a missile defense system near the Lebanese border, days after warplanes shot down a mysterious unmanned aircraft that entered its skies.

An army spokesman said on Tuesday that the Patriot missile defense battery was deployed in the northern city of Haifa. He refused to say if the battery’s deployment was connected to Saturday’s drone incident. The drone is widely believed to have originated in Lebanon.

He spoke anonymously in line with military regulations.

The military has not said where the drone originated or who produced it. But it appears to be the work of Lebanon’s militant group Hezbollah, which possesses advanced Iranian weapons and has deployed similar aircraft in the past.

Israel deployed Patriots in Haifa during its 2006 war with Hezbollah and on other occasions.

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