France Announces: UNIFIL Shoots Down Israeli Drone

Lebanon Today

Media outlets have reported that French soldiers, within the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), shot down an Israeli drone that was flying over one of their patrols after the drone dropped a hand grenade near them in the town of Kfarkila in southern Lebanon. Following this incident, a joint statement was issued by France and the United Nations expressing their condemnation of what they described as “Israeli aggression in southern Lebanon.”

In a related context, the French newspaper “Le Figaro,” quoting a high-ranking diplomatic source, revealed that “the decision to shoot down the Israeli drone in southern Lebanon was purely French,” and clarified that “UNIFIL forces had received instructions to use necessary defensive means to neutralize the drone after it approached one of the patrols in a hostile manner.”

The official statement issued by UNIFIL on Sunday confirmed that “the Israeli drone flew over a patrol of the force in a hostile manner, prompting the soldiers to take necessary defensive measures to neutralize it.” The statement added that the incident occurred in the village of Kfarkila when the drone approached the patrol and dropped a hand grenade, followed by an Israeli tank firing at the international soldiers. It was revealed that the soldiers involved in the incident were of French nationality, in a rare occurrence of UN soldiers shooting down an Israeli drone.

In contrast, the official spokesperson for the Israeli army stated that “initial investigations indicate that the United Nations forces deliberately fired at the drone and brought it down.” In response, both the United Nations and France condemned “the Israeli aggression in southern Lebanon,” considering that “the United Nations force received orders to take necessary measures against actions that can be considered, at best, irresponsible, and at worst, blatantly hostile.”

A diplomat familiar with the matter confirmed to “Le Figaro” that “the incident is not isolated,” pointing out that “an Indonesian soldier was injured by shrapnel from a bomb dropped by an Israeli drone some time ago, and two Lebanese soldiers were killed last August during an intervention in a similar incident.”

The French newspaper report indicated that the recent incident reflects the escalating tension between the French forces operating within UNIFIL and the Israeli army. Last summer, French soldiers encountered an Israeli drone that flew at a low altitude (about 25 meters) above them, causing panic and forcing them to take cover inside their armored vehicles for fear that the drone was armed. The French Ministry of Defense stated that “no army can accept being attacked in this way,” and indicated that “10 to 20 Israeli drones fly daily over southern Lebanon.”

This development comes less than a year after the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, which was concluded on November 27, 2024, following months of exchanging fire in southern Lebanon and the suburbs of Beirut, after the assassination of the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, by Israel and the dismantling of the party’s military structure. Since then, the Israeli army has established five military points inside Lebanese territory along the border, in continuous coordination between the Lebanese army and UNIFIL forces.

According to “Le Figaro,” Hezbollah then committed to abandoning its weapons south of the Litani River, but Israeli estimates indicate that it is reorganizing its ranks, which prompted Israel to escalate its air operations and increase the frequency of its drone flights, one of which fell last summer inside the UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura.

In Paris, the French Ministry of Defense reiterated that “the United Nations forces had issued repeated warnings to Israel regarding the hostile and unprofessional behavior of its drones over Lebanon,” stressing that “these actions have become intolerable and pose a real threat to UN soldiers and local residents alike.”