BEIRUT, Lebanon, April 26 (UPI) -- No Hezbollah drones were deployed near Israeli airspace where such an aircraft was destroyed this week, a member of the Shiite movement in Lebanon said.
The Israeli military said it shot down a drone from Lebanese territory. An Israeli military spokesman was quoted by The Jerusalem Post as saying an F-16 fighter jet destroyed the drone after it was seen flying south along the Lebanese coast toward Israel.
Hezbollah last year said it was using a drone that it said was manufactured in Iran. The Shiite movement in Lebanon was quoted by The Daily Star newspaper as saying it wasn't behind the latest maneuver, however.
"Hezbollah denies that it sent any unmanned drone toward the airspace of Occupied Palestine," the party said.
The Israeli military said that the incident was under investigation. A spokesman for the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon said it was looking into whether the drone flew over its area of operations in southern Lebanon.
Israel and Hezbollah went to war briefly in 2006. A U.N.-backed peace deal called on Hezbollah to disarm while reminding Israel of its obligation to respect Lebanon's sovereignty.
