In Lebanon, Hezbollah fighters destroy an Israeli drone and launch rockets towards an Israeli base.

Timmy Mabs | 1st June, 2024.

Hours after Israeli drone attacks left at least one person dead and numerous others injured, the militant Hezbollah organisation claimed to have shot down an Israeli drone over southern Lebanon and fired rockets at an Israeli military camp on Saturday.

Hours after Israeli drone attacks left at least one person dead and numerous others injured, the militant Hezbollah organisation claimed to have shot down an Israeli drone over southern Lebanon and fired rockets at an Israeli military camp on Saturday. 

In a statement, Hezbollah claimed that its fighters had taken out the Hermes 900 Kochav drone, claiming that the aircraft had been targeting both civilian residences and militants. The recent military assault by Israel on Rafah, the southern metropolis of Gaza, has resulted in an increase in the gunfight along the Israel-Lebanon border.

The drone was operating in Lebanese airspace when a surface-to-air missile was fired towards it, according to the Israeli military. The drone was struck and landed within Lebanese territory. The military declared that "the incident is under review."

With a long endurance and medium altitude, the Hermes 900 Kochav drone is capable of transporting four guided anti-tank missiles.

 In the border town of Kiryat Shmona, Hezbollah announced on Saturday that its militants had also used Burkan rockets to assault an Israeli army base, "scoring direct hits, igniting a fire and destroying part of it." A warhead for a Burkan missile can weigh anything from 300 kg (661 lbs) to 500 kg (1,100 lbs). Without providing specifics, the Israeli army acknowledged that a rocket had struck a military base in Kiryat Shmona.

The missile strike on Kiryat Shmona was reported by Israeli media, which also made available photos of the infrastructure damage. There were no confirmed casualties. 

The state-run National News Agency said earlier on Saturday that two persons were injured in an Israeli drone attack on a motorbike close to the southern Lebanese village of Khirbet Selm. Another drone strike was reported by the agency on Saturday afternoon in a village close to Nabatiyeh, a city in southern Iran.

A woman was murdered and other others were injured on Friday night in the coastal village of Adloun by an Israeli bombardment, according to the agency. 

The day following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, Hezbollah started bombing Israeli military positions along the Lebanon-Israel border. Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border have been displaced since then. 

In Lebanon over the last seven months, over 400 individuals have died, most of them fighters, but over 70 civilians and non-combatants have also died. Since October, Israel has seen 15 military deaths and 10 civilian deaths.