IDF shoots down Hezbollah surveillance drone, in first such incident since ceasefire
Terror group appears to violate US-brokered truce days after IDF struck weapons convoy in southern Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces on Thursday said it shot down a surveillance drone launched by the Hezbollah terror group toward Israel.
No sirens sounded amid the incident, the military noted in its statement, adding: “The IDF will not allow terror activities by the Hezbollah terror organization in Lebanon, and will act to remove any threat to Israel or its citizens.”
It was the first such incident since a ceasefire deal went into effect in late November, after more than a year of fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed terror group, and a violation by Hezbollah of the agreement, which forbids the terror group from operating south of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Israel. The deal allows Israel to respond to imminent threats.
According to the military, the drone Thursday was intercepted by the Israeli Air Force using a ground-based air defense system before it crossed the border into Israel.
The incident came in the wake of an Israeli airstrike on a Hezbollah weapons convoy on Tuesday, and reports — unconfirmed by the military — of an Israeli drone strike Wednesday.
Hezbollah began firing rockets and drones at Israel’s north, unprovoked, on October 8, 2023 — a day after thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.

After almost a year of tit-for-tat exchanges, Israel launched a major air offensive in September, and a limited ground offensive in October to eliminate Hezbollah leadership, push its forces northward and destroy its assets in villages near the border, which were prepared for the purpose of invading Israel.
Under the US-brokered ceasefire, Israel is mandated to withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon as the Lebanese army deploys there.
Israel had been due to withdraw by January 26, but said it could not do so as the Lebanese army had not yet been able to deploy in those areas, and the US and Lebanon announced Sunday that the deadline had been extended.