(CNN) The Israeli military said an Iranian drone it shot down over the weekend was based on an American stealth drone that was intercepted by Iran six years ago.

Israeli Army spokesman Lt. Col Jonathan Conricus told CNN that the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or drone, had been dispatched on a specific mission inside Israel.

The Israeli military had tracked the drone from its launch inside Syria, entering Israeli air space at 4.50 a.m. local time Saturday. The drone was shot down by an Apache attack helicopter and its remains fell north of the Israeli town of Beit She'an.

The claims regarding the downed drone were "too ridiculous to be addressed," said Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi.

"The government and army of Syria as an independent country have a legitimate right to defend [the country's] territorial integrity and counter any type of foreign aggression," Qassemi said on Saturday as quoted by state channel PRESS TV.

Read More