Israeli army fails to intercept drone fired from Lebanon

JERUSALEM

The Israeli army said Friday it had failed to intercept a drone fired from Lebanon and breached the country’s airspace.

"It is clear from the preliminary investigation that earlier today, a small wireless drone was spotted inside Lebanon, flying towards Israeli territory," army spokesman Avichay Adraee tweeted.

"After violating Israeli sovereignty and following it up through monitoring systems, helicopters and warplanes were summoned, in addition to launching an interceptor missile from the Iron Dome without being able to intercept it," he said.

Adraee added that "after a few minutes, the small drone returned to Lebanon."

An earlier military statement said that the drone had been intercepted.

There was no comment from Lebanese authorities on the report.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat