JERUSALEM: The Israeli army said Tuesday it shot down a drone that crossed into its airspace from Lebanon, and located another drone it had downed previously.

“Troops downed a drone that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli airspace in the eastern part of the Blue Line,” an army statement said, referring to the UN-demarcated border.

“The drone was monitored by the IDF throughout the incident,” it added, using an acronym for the army.

Separately, troops earlier in the day “located a drone in the western sector that was downed by the IDF a few weeks ago after crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory,” the army said, identifying the drone as belonging to Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.

There was no immediate comment from Lebanon or Hezbollah.

Israel and Lebanon are still technically at war, and a United Nations force, UNIFIL, patrols the border between the two.

In February, Hezbollah said it had downed an Israeli drone that flew over the Blue Line, with Israel acknowledging an unmanned aircraft had crashed.

AFP