Israeli Jets Overfly Beirut at Very Low Altitude after Hizbullah Sends Drone over Israel

Two Israeli warplanes overflew Beirut and its suburbs at a very low altitude in a mock raid on Friday, minutes after Hizbullah claimed responsibility for a drone that overflew northern Israel for 40 minutes.

The buzzing of the fighter jets jolted residents, rattled windows and set off some car alarms.

Hizbullah meanwhile issued a statement saying it had sent the "Hassan" drone inside Israel. It claimed the drone toured the targeted area for 40 minutes on a "reconnaissance mission that extended along seventy kilometers" inside the occupied territories.

"Despite the enemy's multiple and successive attempts to shoot it down, the 'Hassan' plane returned from the occupied territories safely after it successfully carried out the required mission," it said.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli military said it fired interceptor missiles and protectively scrambled warplanes after the drone crossed its tense northern border.

Hours later, investigations concluded the drone managed to return to Lebanon, the Israeli military said in a statement.

The incidents come just a day after Israel shot down what it said was another drone, allegedly from Hizbullah.

The Israeli military said in its statement that the incursion set off air raid sirens in northern Israel, and that Iron Dome interceptors were deployed and fighter jets were patrolling the skies.

Israel and Hizbullah are bitter enemies that fought a monthlong war in 2006 that ended in a stalemate. Israel considers the Iranian-backed Hizbullah to be its greatest immediate threat, possessing an estimated 150,000 rockets and missiles capable of striking anywhere in Israel.

Israel has long expressed concerns that Hizbullah would obtain or develop guided missiles and attack drones.

Earlier this week, Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said his group has been manufacturing military drones in Lebanon, and has the technology to turn thousands of missiles in its possession into precision-guided munitions.