TEHRAN - Lebanon’s Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for an attack that saw a squadron of drones target an Israeli military base amid the resistance movement’s ongoing support for the Palestinians in Gaza.

Despite being on an increasingly high state of readiness for a widely anticipated retaliation by Hezbollah, the Israeli military’s aerial defense systems failed to intercept a drone that hit the occupation forces’ newly established 91st Division headquarters in Ayelet HaShahar.

The Ayelet HaShahar military base is located northeast of Safed in the Upper Galilee, northern occupied Palestine, some ten kilometers from the Lebanese border.

Tel Aviv was forced to relocate this base mostly used by the Golani division for the north, which used to be three kilometers from Lebanon, after it came under constant fire by Hezbollah.

The Israeli military acknowledged that one officer and one soldier have sustained injuries in the attack, with the officer in a critical condition.

The operation, which was announced by Hezbollah in a statement that said the Lebanese resistance movement targeted the positions and residences of Israeli officers and soldiers, directly hitting them and causing several fatalities and injuries.

Tel Aviv has raised its aerial defense systems in the north after the regime assassinated senior Hezbollah commander Fouad Shokor in Beirut last week.

The aggression marked the first time that the Israeli military has attacked Hezbollah in the Lebanese capital, escalating the daily exchange of fire that had been limited to the southern Lebanese border regions.

In a speech at Shokor’s funeral ceremony, Hezbollah Secretary-General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed to retaliate but has kept Tel Aviv waiting on the nature of the response. 

Analysts have said the vague warning by Seyyed Nasrallah has also left the Israelis in a state of fear and panic.

In its statement, Hezbollah also noted that the operation was “in support of the steadfast Palestinian people in Gaza and to back their resistance, as well as in response to the attacks against civilians and assassinations carried out by the Israeli occupation in the towns of Bazourieh, Deir Siriane, and Houla”.

Israeli media reported an explosion of a drone in the Ayelet HaShahar area and also noted that an interception missile had fallen to the ground without attempting to intercept the drone.

Israeli media also reported that the drone targeted a mobile shelter, resulting in a large fire around it while the soldiers were trapped inside.

The Israeli occupation forces admitted that an officer and a soldier from the Golani Brigade were injured, one of whom had severe head injuries, and both were transferred to the Ziv medical center in Safed.

Commenting on the operation, an Israeli news outlet said that Hezbollah is breaking the rules of engagement and increasing its firepower at midnight in response to the Israeli army’s attacks in southern Lebanon earlier.

One news platform added that the “drone operator” in Hezbollah knows the way to the training field 100 “with his eyes closed” (referring to the Golani Brigade training site in the north).

Israeli media also noted that the Israeli military censorship had imposed a publishing ban on recent events in the north.

On Sunday, the Lebanese resistance forces carried out several operations against the occupation regime targeting its espionage equipment in the settlement of Beit Hillel for the first time.

Israeli military positions also came under fire in Ramia, Al Barakah and Birkat Risha. A building used by Israeli soldiers in the Manara settlement was targeted as well.

Meanwhile, Israeli Channel 12 reported on Monday that two anti-tank missiles were fired from Lebanon towards Kibbutz Bar’am.

As Hezbollah prepares its own retaliation for Shokor, Yemen’s Ansarullah has shot down an American MQ9 drone.

According to the Sana’a government military spokesperson, Yahya Sare’e, Yemeni air defense forces shot down the U.S. MQ9 drone while it was conducting “hostile operations” over Sa’ada governorate (northwest of the capital, Sana’a).

This is not the first time an American drone of this type has been shot down. Yemeni air defenses have previously downed similar reconnaissance drones, with six similar UAVs having been downed on various previous dates since the Yemeni support front in solidarity with Gaza began in November.

Sare’e also declared that the Yemeni forces targeted the “Groton” ship in the Gulf of Aden with several ballistic missiles, achieving a precise hit.

He added that the targeting of the “Groton ship was a result of the ship owner’s violation of the entry ban to ports in occupied Palestine”.

The statement also highlighted that the “Yemeni Armed Forces salute the heroic Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip for 300 days of steadfastness, heroism, and sacrifice in defense of the nation and its dignity and honor, and in support of its sanctities.”

It also emphasized that "the Yemeni Armed Forces will continue their military operations at various escalation stages,” affirming that “Yemeni military operations will not cease until the aggression stops and the blockade on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted.”

The downing of the American spy drone coincides with a threat from Sare’e in which he warned that the response to Israeli aggression against Yemen “is inevitable and will be significant and substantial,” stressing the Yemeni Armed Forces’ full right to defend Yemen against American-British aggression, as well as against Israeli aggression.