Hezbollah shoots down Israeli UAV over Lebanon’s Bekaa
(MENAFN) Hezbollah downed an Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle flying over Lebanon on Sunday while Israeli warplanes carried out strikes deep inside Lebanon, specifically in the Bekaa Valley region.
The militant organization claimed responsibility for shooting down a Hermes 900 drone, as stated in a message on Telegram. They also shared a video showing the drone being targeted.
A source with ties to Hezbollah, speaking to a French news agency in the Baalbek area of eastern Lebanon, indicated that the strikes targeted Janta and Sinfri in the Bekaa Valley.
According to Janes, a British defense consultancy, each Hermes 900 drone has an estimated cost of up to $6.8 million. Since the border conflict erupted on October 7, Israel has lost approximately three fixed-wing drones, following a major incursion by Palestinian resistance group Hamas into southern Israel that resulted in around 1,200 casualties.
In response, Israel launched airstrikes and ground operations in Gaza, resulting in the deaths of over 33,000 Palestinians. This prompted intervention from Hezbollah and, in Yemen, the Houthis imposed a blockade on the Red Sea. Additionally, Iran-backed militias in Syria and Iraq launched drone attacks against Israel.
The Israeli military confirmed the downing of its drone and stated that it retaliated by targeting Hezbollah's air defense systems.
Israel carried out airstrikes targeting both a military compound and three air defense installations in the Bekaa Valley region "in response to the shooting down of the Air Force aircraft last night", it wrote in a post on social media site X.
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