Israeli army downs drone arriving from Lebanon as country reels from deadly Beirut explosion

The Israeli army said it had shot down a drone overnight Thursday into Friday that came from Lebanon, a border on heightened military alert due to recent skirmishes.

Israeli troops overnight "identified a drone which infiltrated into Israeli airspace in the Mount Hermon area, along the Israeli side of the Blue Line" demarcating the Jewish state and Lebanon, the army said.

"The drone was monitored and downed," it said, adding Israeli troops were conducting searches in the area.

Mount Hermon is a strategic and fortified outpost at the crossroads between Israel, Lebanon and Syria.

An Israeli military official told AFP that the drone had arrived from Lebanon.

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The army's statement said that troops were on "elevated preparedness in the north and will not tolerate any violation of Israeli sovereignty".

It did not disclose the type of drone, its size or who it suspected of dispatching it.

Israel's army has reinforced its northern frontiers with Lebanon and Syria in recent weeks, so as to ready itself for "diverse" potential enemy actions.

The Jewish state late last month said it had repelled an attempt by Hezbollah fighters to penetrate the border, but the Shiite Lebanese group denied any involvement in the incident.

That border clash came a week after an alleged Israeli missile attack hit positions of Syrian regime forces and their allies south of Damascus, killing five.