BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug 25 (NNN-NNA) – A Hezbollah official said today (Sunday), that, an Israeli drone went down over the Lebanese capital, Beirut, and another exploded in the air, amid regional tensions between Israel and Iran.
Residents of the Iranian-backed group’s stronghold in southern Beirut, reported one large explosion that shook the area early Sunday, triggering a fire. They said, the nature of the blast, in the Moawwad neighbourhood was not immediately clear, but said, it might have been caused by an Israeli drone, that went down in the area, amid Israeli air activity in neighbouring Syria.
They said, they heard an aircraft flying just before the blast and reported later that the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group sealed off the area. The blast occurred near the militant group’s media office, in Moawwad.
Israeli warplanes fly over Lebanon regularly, and have struck inside neighbouring Syria from Lebanese airspace on numerous occasions.
A few hours earlier, late Saturday, Israeli military attacked targets near Syria’s capital, Damascus, in what it said was a successful effort to thwart an imminent Iranian drone strike on Israel, stepping up an already heightened campaign against Iranian military activity.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ Al Quds force, working with allied Shiite militias, had been planning to send a number of explosives-laden attack drones into Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called the attack by Israeli warplanes a “major operational effort.”
Syrian state TV said, the country’s air defences responded to “hostile” targets over Damascus, and shot down incoming missiles before they could reached their targets.– NNN-NNA
