Lebanon’s Army is reporting that they opened fire Wednesday night against two of three Israeli drones who violated Lebanese air space at the southern border. This was just days after Israeli drones had carried out attacks in Beirut.



The newly raiding drones never got to carry out any such attack, as the military reported that all the drones returned to Israel immediately after the shots began being fired. Israeli officials did not respond to the operation.



This is, however, in keeping with Lebanese President Michel Aoun’s position on the weekend Israeli attacks, which he said amounted to a declaration of war. He promised Lebanon would defend itself in the future, and they appear to have chased off Israel’s forces in this case.



Lebanon’s military does not have substantial anti-aircraft capabilities, and probably couldn’t prevent Israeli airstrikes if they were determined to carry them out. At the same time, the use of low-cost drones seems to be at least in part preemptable for the Lebanese Army.



Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz