Beirut, Jun 11 (IANS): Hezbollah has said that it shot down an Israeli drone over southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah said on Monday in a statement that its fighters ambushed a Hermes 900 drone armed with missiles and targeted it with air defence weapons before the drone carried out its attack, Xinhua news agency reported.

A Lebanese military source told Xinhua news agency that a surface-to-air missile launched from southern Lebanon struck an Israeli drone, causing it to catch fire before landing in the vicinity of al-Rehan mountain in Jezzine district, situated deep in southern Lebanon.

Nearly half an hour later, an Israeli F-16 warplane attacked the wreckage of the drone, according to the source.

Lebanese security sources said that Hezbollah had heightened its military preparedness across all deployment zones several days ago in anticipation of potential military escalation due to repeated Israeli threats.

Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border erupted on October 8, 2023, following a barrage of rockets launched by Hezbollah toward Israel in solidarity with Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7. Israel then retaliated by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon.