The Ababeel-1 or "A1" () is the first
Palestinian
Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine.
*: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...
reconnaissance
unmanned aerial vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Dron ...
(UAV), armed
drone
Drone or The Drones may refer to:
Science and technology Vehicle
* Drone, a type of uncrewed vehicle, a class of robot
** Unmanned aerial vehicle or aerial drone
*** Unmanned combat aerial vehicle
** Unmanned ground vehicle or ground drone
** Unma ...
, made in
Gaza
Gaza may refer to:
Places Palestine
* Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea
** Gaza City, a city in the Gaza Strip
** Gaza Governorate, a governorate in the Gaza Strip
Mandatory Palestine
* Gaza Sub ...
by
al-Qassam Brigades
Al-Qassam Brigades, also known as the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (EQB; ), are the military wing of the Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islamist organization Hamas. Led by Mohammed Deif until his death on 13 July 2024, Al-Qassam Brigades are ...
Industries, the military wing of the
Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).
Background
Mohamed Zouari, an aerospace engineer originally from
Sfax
Sfax ( ; , ) is a major port city in Tunisia, located southeast of Tunis. The city, founded in AD849 on the ruins of Taparura, is the capital of the Sfax Governorate (about 955,421 inhabitants in 2014), and a Mediterranean port. Sfax has a ...
, left Tunisia for Syria in 1991 in order to escape the wave of repression of the
Islamic
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
political party
Ennahdha
The Ennahda Movement (; ), also known as the Renaissance Party or simply known as Ennahda, is a self-defined Islamic democratic political party in Tunisia.
Founded as the Movement of Islamic Tendency in 1981, Ennahda was inspired by the Egypti ...
by the
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (Tunisian Arabic: , ; 3 September 1936 – 19 September 2019), commonly known as Ben Ali or Ezzine, was a Tunisian politician who served as the second President of Tunisia from 1987 to 2011. In that year, during the Tun ...
regime. With knowledge of aeronautics and the design of drones,
He then joined the
Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades,
Hamas
The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...
' military wing, where he supervised its unmanned aircraft manufacturing program, ultimately leading to the development of Ababeel1. The first battlefield use of the Ababeel1 was in the Gaza War of 2014.
See also
*
Palestinian domestic weapons production
*
Qassam rocket
The Qassam rocket ( ; also ''Kassam'') is a simple, steel artillery rocket developed and deployed by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas. These rockets cannot be fired to target specific military objectives in or near ci ...
*
Yasin (RPG)
The Yasin (), also known as Yassin, or Al-Yassin, is an anti-tank weapon derived from the RPG-7 produced by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, and first deployed in 2004. It was named after Hamas' spiritual leader, She ...
References
{{Hamas
Aircraft manufactured in Palestine
Palestinian military reconnaissance aircraft
Weapons of Palestine
2014 in the Gaza Strip
Palestinian inventions
Unmanned military aircraft