An Israeli spy drone crashed in the Dahiya quarter of the Lebanese capital Beirut, viewed as Hezbollah’s stronghold. According to several reports, the Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle was downed when bystanders managed to strike it, after hurling stones in its direction.
A Hezbollah official confirmed the incident. He further noted that when a group of Hezbollah operatives had gone to collect the debris of the fallen UAV, another one arrived at the scene and crashed into the first incapacitated aircraft – causing a blaze in its vicinity. The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit refused to respond to this report.
Several hours after the incident, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah vowed that from now on, any Israeli drone that enters Lebanese airspace will be shot down. During a Hezbollah rally to commemorate the organization’s operational gains in Syria during 2017, Nasrallah referred to the drone incident in Beirut as a breach of the presiding understandings with Jerusalem. As such, the Hezbollah Secretary General directed a message to Israel’s military, in which he vowed to launch a surprise attack against the Jewish State in the near future. Nasrallah also announced that the two operatives that were killed in the Israeli bombardment in Syria were Hezbollah members. In response, Nasrallah underscored that any attack against his group in Syria will be met with retaliatory attacks from Lebanon.
Arab media reports have alleged that Israel conducted another aerial raid against an army base of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is situated in the Lebanon valley near the Syrian border. While no injuries were reported, extensive damage was caused to the property. It is important to note that this military compound is the General Command of the internationally recognized terror group, under the leadership of Ahmed Jibril. It is one of the few Palestinian organizations that supported the regime of President Bashar al-Assad from the beginning of the Syrian civil war. As such, it conducts operations in both Syria and Lebanon.