Hezbollah claims responsibility for downing Israeli drone

An Israeli military drone crashed in southern Lebanon on June 26, the Israel Defence Forces [IDF] has said.

The Hezbollah terror group claimed to have shot down the aircraft, The Times of Israel reports.

“The Islamic Resistance downed an Israeli drone that penetrated Lebanese airspace… near the southern town of Zibqin,” a statement carried by the Hezbollah-linked Al-Manar television said.

The IDF said the drone “fell” in Lebanon during routine surveillance activity, without elaborating on how it crashed or the model.

The IDF said there was no risk of intelligence being taken from the drone.

Lebanon and Israel are technically in a state of war and the heavily guarded border is commonly penetrated by drones from both sides.

Lebanon regularly complains about Israeli surveillance drones invading its airspace, but the IDF maintains that such incursions are necessary to track the activities of Hezbollah, which the Lebanese government is supposed to keep in check.

The incident comes amid recent tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border, after Hezbollah set up two armed posts in sovereign Israeli territory and several clashes between Israeli troops and Lebanese rioters.

Israel and Lebanon do not have a formal border due to territorial disputes; however, they largely abide by the United Nations-recognized Blue Line between the two countries.

The Blue Line is marked with blue barrels along the border and is dozens of meters from the Israeli fence in some areas, which is built entirely within Israeli territory.

The two tents, manned by armed Hezbollah members, were established more than two weeks ago over the internationally recognized Blue Line in the contested Mount Dov region, also known as the Shebaa Farms — an area claimed by Israel, Lebanon and Syria.

Israel says it aims to deal with the tents through diplomatic means and have a UN peacekeeping force remove the tents, but threatened that the IDF may use force eventually.

The Hezbollah terror group has long been the IDF’s most significant adversary on Israel’s borders, with an estimated arsenal of nearly 150,000 rockets and missiles that can reach anywhere in Israel.