In Video: Hezbollah Shot Down Israeli Hermes 900 Combat Drone

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Late on April 6, Hezbollah announced that it had shot down a combat drone of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) over Lebanon.

Hezbollah said in an initial statement that it downed an Elbit Hermes 450, but later claimed in an update that the drone was the larger Hermes 900 model.

The drone was targeted “to support the steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in support of their brave and honorable resistance,” the group said.

The IDF acknowledged that one of its drones was shot down by Hezbollah and said that the incident was under further investigation. Video footage released later by the group showed the large drone being hit and falling from the sky while on fire.

The Hermes 900 is a medium-size drone with an endurance of over 30 hours and a maximum altitude of 30,000 feet. It was designed by Israel’s Elbit to carry out reconnaissance, surveillance, communications relay and attack missions. A single drone of this model could cost more than $80 millions.

Hezbollah is thought to possess several air defense systems that could defeat combat drones like the Hermes 900, including a missile-drone hybrid identified by the United States military and intelligence as the “358” missile. The missile, which was spotted in Lebanon before, is said to have a range of 150 kilometers.

In response to the downing of its drone, the IDF said in a statement early on April 7 that it had carried out airstrikes against targets of Hezbollah’s air defense force in the Baalbek district in northeastern Lebanon, more than 100 kilometers away from the border with Israel.

According to the IDF, the targets included a compound and three additional infrastructures relating to Hezbollah’s air defenses force.

A source close to Hezbollah told AFP that the strikes hit two areas in Baalbek : Janta an arid, a mountainous region close to the border with Syria, and Sifri, which is in the center of the Bekaa Valley. There were no reports of casualties from the airstrikes.

Additional Hezbollah sites were targeted late on April 6 in the southern Lebanese towns of Ayta al-Shaab and Odaisseh, the IDF announced in the same statement.

The overnight Israeli airstrikes marked the fifth time amid the war in Gaza that the IDF struck positions in Baalbek, a stronghold of Hezbollah.

The first Israeli attack on the district was in February. It was carried out in response to the downing of a Hermes 450 combat drone by Hezbollah. The group also shot down a Hermes 450 last November, but the IDF didn’t respond with deep strikes at the time.

Since the outbreak of the Israeli war on Gaza last October, Hezbollah and its allies began launching near-daily attacks against the IDF in support of the Hamas Movement and other Palestinian armed factions in the Strip.

So far, the border clashes have resulted in eight civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of at least ten IDF soldiers and reservists. On the Lebanese side, more than 400 people have been killed, including 253 fighters of Hezbollah and at least 70 civilians.

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