Israel announced Friday that it had shot down a drone that entered its territory from Lebanon, amid an unprecedented escalation on the Israeli-Lebanese front since 2006. In a short statement, the Israeli army said that its soldiers had “identified and shot down a drone that came from Lebanese territory into Israeli territory near the town of Zarit”. The military “will continue to prevent any attempt to violate Israeli sovereignty,” the statement said.
This incident comes after Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon. The Israeli army claimed to have struck before dawn on Friday three “infrastructures” of the Palestinian movement Hamas in the area of ??Rashidiye, in response to about 30 rockets fired Thursday from Lebanon towards Israel, injuring one person and causing damage materials.
The Israeli army claimed that the unclaimed shots were “Palestinian”, and likely from Hamas or Islamic Jihad, another armed group. It also targeted Hamas infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, where the Islamist movement is in power, against a backdrop of upsurge in Israeli-Palestinian violence and tensions in Jerusalem in the midst of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious holiday season.
