Hezbollah claims to down Israeli drone in southern Lebanon

IDF confirms UAV crashed along border, says no fears of information breach

By AFP and ToI Staff 23 August 2020, 4:00 am

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Illustrative: This Saturday, March 31, 2018 photo released by Hezbollah Central Military Media, shows the wreckage of an Israeli military drone that crashed not far from the Israeli border, in the area of Khalet Mariam near the southern village of Baraashit, in south Lebanon. (Hezbollah Military Media, via AP)

The Hezbollah terror group said it downed and seized an Israeli drone as it flew over the Lebanese border Saturday.

The Israeli military confirmed only that a drone had fallen in Lebanon during operational activity along the Lebanon border. “There is no risk of breach of information,” it said.

Hezbollah said its fighters downed the drone near the town of Aita al-Shaab.

Israel is technically at war with Lebanon. Lebanon regularly complains about Israeli surveillance drones invading its airspace.

In September 2019, Hezbollah vowed to down Israeli drones overflying Lebanon following an incident a month earlier when two UAVs packed with explosives targeted Hezbollah’s stronghold of south Beirut.

Tensions have been high along the Israeli-Lebanese border, known as the Blue Line, since a fighter from the Iran-backed group was killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike in Syria in July.

Israel scrambled troops and military hardware to the border over fears of a Hezbollah reprisal attack.

The IDF said days later that it had repelled an attempt by Hezbollah fighters to penetrate the border, but the Shiite Lebanese group denied any involvement in the incident.