The Israeli army announced on Saturday that it had shot down three drones belonging to the Lebanese Hezbollah movement which were heading towards a gas field in the Mediterranean.
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"
Three drones approaching Israel's economic waters have been intercepted
," the military said in a statement, adding that the unmanned craft were from Hezbollah and were heading for the Karish offshore field.
According to the Israeli army, these three drones were launched from Lebanon and were heading towards this gas field, but were shot down before approaching it.
One drone was intercepted by a fighter jet, and the other two by a warship, Israeli military sources said.
The discovery in recent years of vast gas deposits in the eastern Mediterranean has whetted the appetite of the neighboring countries and fueled border disputes.
Lebanon and Israel, two neighboring countries officially still in a state of war, began unprecedented negotiations in October 2020 under the aegis of Washington to delimit their maritime border, in order to remove obstacles to hydrocarbon prospecting.
Talks were suspended in May 2021 following disputes over the surface of the disputed area including the Karish gas field.
For the Jewish state, the Karish field is located in Israeli territory "
several kilometers from the area covered by the negotiations
" with Lebanon.
For Beirut, this deposit is in disputed waters.
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Tensions resurfaced in early June with the arrival of a ship chartered on behalf of the Jewish state by the British exploration company Energean Plc, Lebanon accusing Israel of operating in a disputed area.
The powerful Shiite armed movement Hezbollah, a sworn enemy of Israel, exercises a dominating influence in Lebanon.