A drone allegedly shot down by the Israeli army at the border with Lebanon, on April 7, 2023. (Credit: Twitter / Israeli army)
The Israeli army announced Friday evening that it had shot down a drone after it crossed its border from Lebanese territory. The incident comes a little more than 24 hours after dozens of rockets were fired from Lebanon toward Israel, a barrage to which the Israel army retaliated with airstrikes on southern Lebanon.
In a tweet, the Israeli forces said they "identified a drone that had crossed the border from Lebanese territory towards Israeli territory earlier today in the area of the settlement of Zarit and shot it down."
The Israeli forces added that they "will continue to act to prevent any violation of Israel's sovereignty."
Israeli airstrikes hit southern Lebanon before dawn Friday, with Israel saying they targeted positions of the Palestinian movement Hamas in response to dozens of rockets fired against its territory.
The bombing of southern Lebanon was brief and occurred at around 4 a.m. local time. The Israeli army claimed to have struck three "infrastructure" sites belonging to Hamas, in the area of Rashidieh, where there is a Palestinian refugee camp, near Sour.
On Thursday evening, the Israeli army had accused Hamas of firing the barrage of rockets, most of which were intercepted by its Iron Dome missile defense system.
On Friday evening, the UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, announced it had opened an investigation into "the rocket fire and airstrikes that occurred yesterday and early today."