Lebanon’s Hizbollah says downed Israeli drone

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hizbollah movement said it downed an Israeli drone on Monday after it flew over the UN-demarcated Blue Line border, while Israel acknowledged an unmanned aircraft had crashed.

Hizbollah said it “downed a drone belonging to the Israeli enemy that had entered Lebanese airspace outside Blida” in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli ar said that “during its operational activity along the Blue Line, a drone fell in Lebanese territory”.

“There is no risk of breach of information,” it said.

Hizbollah released images of a four-armed drone equipped with what appeared to be a camera.

The announcement came just 10 days after the Israeli forces shot down an unmanned aircraft it said had entered its airspace from Lebanon.

In August 2020, Hizbollah also said it downed and seized an Israeli drone that flew into Lebanese airspace. Israel at the time likewise said the drone had “fallen”.

Israel and Lebanon are still technically at war, and a United Nations force, UNIFIL, patrols the border between the two.

Set up in 1978, UNIFIL was beefed up after a devastating month-long war in 2006 between Israel and Hizbollah.

Hizbollah had in September 2019 vowed to down Israeli drones overflying Lebanon following an incident a month earlier when two drones packed with explosives targeted Hizbollah’s stronghold in south Beirut.

The group is the only side not to have disarmed following Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, and it is also a powerful player in Lebanese politics with seats in parliament.