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A German warship has shot down a drone off the coast of Lebanon, as the conflict in the country continues to escalate and threaten even United Nations peacekeeping forces.
Early on Thursday, the German corvette warship – the “Ludwigshafen am Rhein” – was operating as part of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon’s (UNIFIL) peacekeeping mission when it detected and shot down a drone off the coast not far from the southern Lebanese town of Naqoura.
According to the news agency, Reuters, a spokesperson for the German Defence Ministry told it that the “corvette brought an unidentified unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) into the water in a controlled crash”, and that, following the incident, the ship is now continuing its duties.
The downing of the UAV was reportedly the result of the warship’s defence systems, the Bundeswehr military’s joint operations command is cited as saying, with UNIFIL spokesperson, Andrea Tenenti, also stating on X that the drone approached one of its ships off the southern Lebanese coast and in “accordance with procedure, electronic countermeasures were used and the UAV fell and exploded on its own.” He added that “We are looking into the matter.”
The source of the drone – as well as its model – has not yet been clarified or confirmed, with it potentially having been operated by a number of actors, including Hezbollah or Israel. The incident comes at a time, however, when Israeli forces are increasingly responsible for conducting attacks on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.
READ: UNIFIL says Israeli army attacked another UN site in southern Lebanon