Hezbollah says downed Israeli drone in south Lebanon
BEIRUT
The Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it shot down an Israeli drone in southern Lebanon on Monday, nearly five months into near-daily cross-border clashes sparked by the Gaza war.
Hezbollah's "air defence unit shot down... a large Israeli Hermes 450 drone with a surface-to-air missile" in south Lebanon, the group said in a statement.
It added that its "fighters' eyes will remain vigilant and will keep shooting down enemy aircraft and preventing them from achieving their aggressive goals".
The Israeli army later confirmed one of its drones had been downed in Lebanon.
A missile "was fired toward an Israeli Air Force UAV operating in Lebanon.... A short while after, an additional missile launch toward the UAV was identified and the UAV fell inside Lebanese territory," Israel's army said.
Since Oct. 8, Hezbollah and its arch-foe Israel have been exchanging fire but strikes have been largely contained to the border area -- although Israel has struck elsewhere in Lebanon, including in Beirut.
At least 278 people have been killed on the Lebanese side since fighting erupted, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 44 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to the Israeli army.
The clashes have displaced tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the border.
