The blasting of air raid sirens in a number of communities in Israel’s western Galilee district this morning was followed by an announcement from the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit that “no incoming fire had been identified” and that the alert had been falsely triggered by the infiltration of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
In an unrelated overnight incident, an unidentified drone entered Israeli airspace in the Mount Hermon region, along the country’s demarcated “Blue Line” with Lebanon. The drone was closely monitored and intercepted by the IDF, which is now searching for its debris. The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit released a statement in which it underscored that there was “no connection between the downing of the drone to the false alarm of an infiltrating Unmanned Aerial Vehicle in the western Galilee, earlier today.”
The IDF further stressed that it “will not tolerate any violation of Israeli sovereignty.”
Following a situation assessment by the IDF General Staff last night, top commander Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi decided to maintain the operational deployment in the north along the border with Lebanon by ordering a troop rotation “to facilitate continuous operations.”