Israeli drone crashes in Lebanon after increased border tension

The Israeli army has stated that one of its drones went down over Lebanon during day-to-day border operations which have increased over the last month due to a rise in tension between the two countries. The drone was believed to be conducting surveillance over Lebanon.

The drone is believed to have crashed in Lebanon due to a technical failure. The Israeli army shared in a statement; the drone was being used in “IDF operational activity” along the Israel-Lebanon border. The army has also shared that no information has been leaked from the drone.

It is known that Israel often deploys drones over Lebanon to monitor the Hezbollah group, an enemy of Israel and a big political player in Lebanon.

Increase in tension

Last week, information was released by a Lebanese reporter that a Lebanese drone filming a music video for the country’s Hezbollah Orchestra was grounded by Israel due to the drone flying too close to the border between the two countries. Israel has also stated that the drone crossed over the border which prompted the country to take control over the drone.

Whether the drone was just filming the orchestra or it was an elaborate setup by the Lebanese government to spy on Israel, the drone was made to fly 3 km (~1.8 miles) into Israel and was later forced to land. While flying away, the drone captured an image of Israel from above before the signal to the controller was lost.

On top of the drone incidents, a fighter from the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah was killed during an Israeli drone strike just outside the capital of Syria, Damascus. Earlier this week another missile strike took out five Iran-backed fighters with one of the fighters believed to be from the Hezbollah militant group.

Israel is effectively at war with both Lebanon and Syria with many drone strikes happening on Syrian soil to stop Iran from getting further into Syria. Israel has announced that extra reinforcements will make their way to the Northern border and hit military targets in southern Syria. Syria then proceeded to shoot non-lethal fire in the direction of Israel.

Photo: Aljazeera