Israeli UAV crashes in southern Lebanon near border
IDF says drone crashed as a result of a technical malfunction and was not shot down; Hezbollah-affiliated media says MK-type drone crashed in the Marjayoun area in southern Lebanon.
A tiny unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) crashed during routine work along the Israeli-Lebanese border, the IDF confirmed after reports arose in Lebanese media.
The army said the drone crashed as a result of a technical malfunction and was not shot down.
The IDF was investigating the circumstances that led to the drone's crash. An IDF official said the possibility of retrieving the crashed UAV's parts was being examined.
According to Hezbollah-affiliated media, the MK-type drone fell in near Mazra'at Sarda in the Marjayoun area in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese army reportedly seized the drone.
Last month, the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Miadin news channel reported that an Israeli-made Hermes drone crashed near the Baghdad airport area.
Representatives of the US embassy in Iraq arrived on the scene and collected the pieces of the broken aircraft, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
That incident was preceded by another earlier that week, in which Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it shot down a purported Israeli drone near the country's uranium enrichment facility in Natanz, some 240 kilometers (150 miles) south of the capital, Tehran.
State television aired footage of the purported drone and identified it as a Hermes 450 drone, which is manufactured in Israel. Israeli experts, however, said the drone parts in the Iranian broadcast "do not belong to the Hermes drone, or any other drone manufactured by Elbit."
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