Lebanese man with hunting rifle downs Israeli drone

Israeli military claims drone was on ‘routine’ activity inside Lebanon, weeks after drone violations sparked clashes between the neighbours.

An Israeli drone was shot down in southern Lebanon by a man with a hunting rifle on Wednesday, local media reported.

The Israeli military confirmed a drone was downed within Lebanese territory, claiming it was on a “routine security operation”.

A video shared by Lebanese media showed a small surveillance drone hovering in the sky before several shots ring out which, Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star reported, were fired from a hunting rifle.

A man who appears in the video says: “The army’s sleeping but we’re not sleeping.”

According to Lebanon’s official National News Agency, the incident was in Kfarkela, a town on the border with Israel.

The news agency also share a picture of the same man in the video, showing him casually holding a drone in his hand.

The Israeli military regularly violates Lebanese airspace, using various kinds of aircraft for reconnaissance. Israeli jets also violate Lebanese airspace when conducting raids on targets in Syria.

In August, Lebanon said two Israeli drones crashed over the capital Beirut.

In September Lebanese group Hezbollah said they had shot down an Israeli drone in southern Lebanon.

Israel occupied areas of south Lebanon from 1982 to 2000, when a Hezbollah-led insurgency campaign forced Israeli forces to withdraw.