A man in a glider that exploded over southern Lebanon this week had planned a terrorist attack on an Israeli target, according to Israeli security officials.
The head of the Israel Defense Force’s northern command, Maj. Gen. Amiram Levin, militant Islamic fundamentalist movement.
The glider was sighted Tuesday afternoon some five miles north of the Israeli border town of Kiryat Shmona.
Security forces in the southern Lebanon security zone were put on alert after the sighting.
But the terrorist, who was flying slowly in a motorized glider, blew up north of the zone, apparently due to mishap.
IDF officials said that if terrorist entered the zone, he most likely would have been shot down.
Levine told Israel Radio that lessons had been learned from what has become known as “the night to the gliders,” when six Israeli soldiers were killed in 1987 by a Palestinian guerrilla who had crossed from Lebanon into Israel on a hang glider.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
