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IDF confirms drone downed in southern Lebanon

Hezbollah claims to have shot down and captured the drone, but the Israeli military says it fell out of the sky during routine reconnaissance operations and has no intelligence value.

Illustrative: A drone is seen in flight during a joint drill of the Israel Defense Forces and the emergency squad of the town of Efrat in Gush Etzion on Aug. 28, 2019. Photo by Gershon Elinson/Flash90.
Illustrative: A drone is seen in flight during a joint drill of the Israel Defense Forces and the emergency squad of the town of Efrat in Gush Etzion on Aug. 28, 2019. Photo by Gershon Elinson/Flash90.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Monday that one of their drones had crashed in southern Lebanon, just two weeks after another Israeli drone crashed into a Hezbollah media center in the city.

While the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah claimed to have shot down the drone, an IDF spokesman said that as far as the military knows, it simply fell.

“There is no concern that information could be [taken from the drone],” the IDF said in a statement, adding that it had been performing standard reconnaissance operations when it went down.

Hezbollah operatives said that they had “confronted with necessary weapons an Israeli drone,” which they claimed was now in their possession.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed last week to begin attacking Israeli drones following the drone incident last month in Beirut. Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles into Israel on Sept. 1 that narrowly missed a troop carrier; Israel responded by pounding multiple Hezbollah targets with artillery and attack helicopters.

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