Hezbollah Announces Confrontation with Israeli Landing Involving 15 Helicopters

SadaNews - Hezbollah announced early on Monday that its fighters confronted a large-scale Israeli landing attempt involving about 15 helicopters over the Eastern Mountain Range in eastern Lebanon, confirming the downing of one of those helicopters, according to the French news agency.

Two sources in Hezbollah told the agency, on the condition of anonymity, that the party's fighters shot down an Israeli helicopter during the confrontation, while a Lebanese security source confirmed that the Israeli helicopters intended to carry out a landing operation inside Lebanese territory.

Heavy clashes erupted early on Monday in eastern Lebanon, following an attempt by an Israeli force to carry out an aerial landing near the town of Nabi Sheet on the Eastern Mountain Range adjacent to the Lebanese-Syrian border, according to Lebanese security sources.

A Lebanese security source stated that initial estimates indicated that the Israeli helicopters intended to execute a landing operation within Lebanese territory, confirming that Hezbollah fighters "confronted the helicopters with anti-aircraft weapons" after detecting dense movement of Israeli aircraft over the border mountains around Nabi Sheet.

The Lebanese National News Agency reported that "violent clashes are ongoing in the Shaara area - the outskirts of Nabi Sheet, where Israeli forces - which advanced via aerial landing - are trying to penetrate through the heights of the Eastern Range."

Hezbollah’s statement added that "the resistance fighters detected the infiltration of about 15 Israeli helicopters from the Syrian direction at 00:10 early on Monday, flying over the skies of the villages of Janta, Yuhfoun, Nabi Sheet, Arsal, and Ras Baalbek," before some of the aircraft proceeded to land a troop of infantry in the adjacent Sahrgaya plain near the Lebanese border.

The statement clarified that the party's elements "confronted the helicopters and the infiltrating force with appropriate weapons," noting that the clashes are still ongoing until the issuance of this statement.

Later, the Israeli army announced that the operation aimed to find belongings belonging to the missing Israeli pilot Ron Arad, indicating that the force did not find any evidence related to him.