Despite Hezbollah's no tolerance policy to airspace violations, it downs yet another Israeli drone

RT
Mon, 09 Sep 2019 04:39 UTC

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Israeli Drone

Lebanon's Hezbollah said it downed an Israeli drone near the southern border. Earlier, the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, vowed that Israel will no longer be allowed to violate Lebanon's airspace with impunity.

The type of UAV, or whether it was a commercial or a military grade surveillance drone, is unknown. Hezbollah is yet to release any footage.

The IDF has confirmed it lost a drone that was on a spy mission over Lebanon, but denied reports that Hezbollah militants destroyed the UAV.

Lebanon accuses Israel of last month's botched suicide drone attack in Beirut, which triggered an exchange of fire at the border and forced Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to declare a "new phase" in the conflict, vowing to down any intruding aircraft. "This is the start of a new phase, there is a new battlefield which is targeting Israel's drones in Lebanon's skies, and it is in the hands of Hezbollah field commanders."

Comment: More from RT, 9/9/2019: IDF confirms its drone crashed in Lebanon during reconnaissance mission

A small copter-sized craft did crash over Lebanon but wasn't shot down, the IDF told the media on Monday. When asked whether the aircraft had been targeted from the ground or crashed due to a technical issue, an army spokesperson told the Times of Israel, "It fell, as far as I know."

Separately, the military confirmed to RIA Novosti that the drone "carried out a routine flight and went down in Lebanese territory," but said it is unlikely that any intelligence data could be taken from the drone.