Israel's Quiet Killers

"Wary Gaza militants using binoculars are on constant lookout for drones," the A.P. reports on the latest round of fighting with Israel:

When one is sighted overhead, the militants report via walkie-talkie to their comrades, warning them to turn off their cell phones and remove the batteries for fear the Israeli technology will trace their whereabouts.

A militant from the southern Gaza Strip who belongs to the Islamic Jihad group said drones were mostly used to target individuals, and not structures. He said they often hovered at much higher altitudes than manned aircraft and their missiles were frequently more destructive, leaving deep gashes where they landed.

The militant said the drones usually targeted slow-moving targets, like people walking, or cars slowing down to avoid potholes in a road.

"It looks like it makes small circles in the sky, but before it's about to fire a missile, it slows down," the militant said, spea**king on condition of anonymity because he feared being identified by Israel.
"It's not like any other plane. You don't see the missile leaving, it's very quiet."

The U.S. employs many of the same tactics for similar purposes, flying Predator drones in Pakistan to quietly pick off suspected jihadists. I'm not sure about the cell phone connection: while the technology exists to track people by way of their phones, many drones employ more direct means of targeting, including daylight and IR sensors. The Taliban in Afghanistan is certainly convinced cell phones are a vulnerability, though.