Fighters from the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement have intercepted and shot down an Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle as it was flying in the skies over southern Lebanon close to the border with the 1948 Israeli-occupied territories.
Lebanon’s al-Manar television channel, citing a brief Hezbollah statement, reported that the group targeted and downed an Israeli Hermes 900 drone with appropriate weapons over Lebanese territory on Saturday afternoon.
The statement noted that the operation was carried out following careful monitoring of the Zionist enemy’s moves.
The Israeli military later confirmed in a statement that one of its drones had been shot down over southern Lebanon.
It says the Hermes 900 drone was hit by a surface-to-air missile while operating in the area.
The Hermes 900 is a medium-sized drone, which reportedly has the endurance to fly for over 36 hours and up to 30,000 feet (9,144 meters) and can carry a maximum payload of 350 kilograms.
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It marks the fourth Israeli drone to be shot down by Hezbollah over southern Lebanon. In all, two Hermes 450 drones and two Hermes 900 models have been downed in recent months.
Earlier on Saturday, an Israeli drone targeted a motorcycle on a road in Majdel Selm village of the Marjeyoun district in southern Lebanon.
An Israeli tank also shelled the border town of Kfarkila, as Israeli interceptor missiles exploded over Mays al-Jabal.
Hezbollah meanwhile announced that it responded to the Majdal Selm attack by launching suicide drones at Israeli forces north of the Yiftah barracks, causing “certain casualties.”
The Lebanese resistance movement also said it had attacked the Israeli al-Baghdadi outpost with missiles.
The Israeli regime launched its devastating hostilities in the Gaza Strip on October 7 after the territory’s Hamas-led Palestinian resistance groups carried out a surprise retaliatory attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying entity.
The Israeli military has also been carrying out attacks against the Lebanese territory since then, prompting retaliatory strikes from Hezbollah in support of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
The movement has vowed to keep up its retaliatory operations as long as the Tel Aviv regime continues its onslaught on Gaza.
The Israeli campaign in Gaza has killed at least 36,379 people, most of them women and children. Another 82,407 individuals have also been wounded.
