A photo released by the Israeli military showing a downed drone that it claims belonged to Hezbollah. (Twitter/@AvichayAdraee)
BEIRUT — The Israeli army intercepted and shot down a drone Monday that was launched from Lebanon across the southern border and is allegedly “linked to Hezbollah,” an Israeli army spokesperson said in a tweet.
Here’s what we know:
• A Hezbollah spokesperson told L’Orient Today that Hezbollah has no information about the incident.
• The incident comes at a time when the dispute over the delineation of the maritime border between Lebanon and Israel is in full swing, especially after Hezbollah sent three unarmed drones towards the offshore Karish gas field early July.
• Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech Wednesday on the anniversary of the 2006 July War with Israel that his party is “militarily and financially capable of preventing [Israel] from extracting [gas] from the disputed Karish field and all [Israel’s] measures will not be capable of protecting its floating platform.”
• On June 5, Israel deployed a floating production, storage and offloading vessel to the disputed Karish offshore gas field, causing tensions with the Lebanese side.
• “Our air surveillance units followed the drone throughout its flight,” the Israeli army spokesperson said, adding that Israel will continue to work to “prevent any violations of the Israeli state’s sovereignty.”
• Meanwhile, Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc leader MP Mohammad Raad said Saturday that Hezbollah “does not want a war, but [the party] is ready and on alert.”