IDF drone crashes in Nablus due to malfunction; armed faction captures it

An Israeli military drone crashed in the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces said.

An armed Palestinian group calling itself “Lion’s Den” said it had captured the quadcopter that crashed in the Old City of Nablus, publishing images of it taken apart.

The faction said its members were examining the device.

The group, based in Nablus, was established in recent months by members of various terror groups. Some of its members were apparently previously affiliated with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

It has claimed responsibility for numerous shooting attacks in the northern West Bank.

The IDF said the drone crashed due to a technical malfunction. No sensitive information was lost due to the crash and there was no risk of intelligence being taken from the device, the army said.

مجموعة "عرين الأسود": نؤكد سُقوط طائرة تصوير إسرائيلية في البلدة القديمة من مدينة نابلس وهي الآن بحوزة إختصاصين وفنيين من العرين لفحص الغاية من سقوطها أو إسقاطها وبعيده كل البعد عن مكان تواجد المقاتلين. pic.twitter.com/9eDyFry2XI

— كتائب شهداء الاقصى (@moy334) October 14, 2022

Small, off-the-shelf models used by the IDF for simple reconnaissance missions have previously crashed in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Such drones, which are relatively cheap, crash or are shot down at a frequency of once every few months.