"WESTERN NAVY" SUBMARINE CAUGHT SPYING ON ISRAEL

IDF: Submarine entered Israeli waters
The Israeli Navy said Monday that it believes the submarine detected last week inside Israel's territorial waters off the shores of Nahariya belonged to a Western navy. The incident occurred overnight on November 9-10 off the northern coast of Israel. The Navy detected the submarine after it had penetrated two nautical miles into Israel's territorial waters, about 18 kilometers from shore.

Military sources said Monday that the submarine had probably been on an espionage mission, but alternately it could have "strayed" into Israeli waters before it was detected. Navy defenses detected a "submerged" object which they later classified as a submarine, but sources refused to reveal further details about its size. The Navy followed the submarine for a few hours, but the moment it took active measures to close in on the submarine, it quickly turned and headed back to international waters.

Israel's Navy immediately dispatched surface vessels to intercept the submarine. The Navy's 'Satil' and 'Dabur' boats could not reach their target in time, and the submarine slipped out of Israeli territorial waters before the confrontation. The IDF reacted to the penetration of Israel's territorial waters as a "hostile act," the report said. Helicopters and other measures were also deployed in the hunt for the submarine.

"We assume that the submarine belonged to a Western navy. It had probably been on a spying mission," a senior military source told The Jerusalem Post. Submarines mostly function on intelligence gathering missions including electronic and photographic surveillance.