Twelve Israeli soldiers were wounded, two moderately, in a direct drone strike on a military vehicle near the northern border; Hezbollah downed an Israeli UAV with a surface-to-air missile

Hezbollah shot down an IDF drone after firing a surface-to-air missile at it, the IDF said Thursday morning. The military said the incident is under investigation and that there is no concern of an information leak. Shortly afterward, the terrorist group claimed responsibility for downing a Hermes 450 unmanned aerial vehicle in the Nabatieh area in southern Lebanon.

Earlier Thursday, 12 IDF soldiers were wounded when an explosive-laden first-person-view (FPV) drone directly struck a vehicle in the Shomera area near the Lebanese border. Two of the soldiers were moderately wounded and the others sustained light injuries.

The direct strike in the Shomera area Troops from the Hasmonean Brigade assisted in evacuating the wounded. At the same time, the Israeli military carried out strikes in southern Lebanon. Lebanese reports said the attacks included airstrikes, artillery fire and drone strikes targeting several villages. The Israeli military said that five Hezbollah terrorists operating near its forces were killed a day earlier, and that the group had launched explosive drones at the troops.

In southern Lebanon, footage also circulated of a strike on the well-known seaside restaurant “Al-Safina" in the al-Bayada area, not far from Naqoura. In the video, which Lebanese sources said was from a strike about two weeks ago, voices are heard counting down before the explosion. Reports said the restaurant opened about a decade ago as part of a project aimed at promoting tourism in southern Lebanon. One Lebanese website described it as a prominent tourist site in the area due to its unique location on hills overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.