ISRAEL BOLSTERS FORCES ON NORTHERN BORDER

JERUSALEM

Israel said a military drone crashed in southern Lebanon on Sunday as regional tensions ran high, days after a series of crossborder exchanges between Israel and Syria and the killing of a Hezbollah militant in an Israeli airstrike near the Syrian capital.

The Israeli military issued the statement shortly after Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz met with army brass near the country’s northern frontier. The military said the drone went down over Lebanese territory “during operational activities” along the border. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli warplanes and drones flew over southern Lebanon throughout Sunday.

Israel has beefed up its troop presence along the borders with Lebanon and Syria since Friday’s strikes on Syrian army positions. Israel says those strikes were in response to unspecified munitions fired on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The exchanges came after Monday’s air raid on Damascus — believed to have been carried out by Israel — that killed five foreign fighters, including a member of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran.

Gantz said in a statement that Israel “has no interests in Syria or Lebanon, aside from security interests, and we will continue to protect them.

“We are not seeking unnecessary escalation, but if we are tested — we have high operative capacity, which I hope we will not need to put to use,” Gantz said.

Israel and Hezbollah fought to a draw in a monthlong war in Lebanon in 2006. Hezbollah has previously vowed to respond to the killing of its forces in Syria.

Earlier Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country was “acting according to our consistent policy of not allowing Iran to entrench itself militarily on our northern border.“He said Lebanon and Syria “bear responsibility for any attack against Israel emanating from their territories.”

Israel has long considered Iran a regional nemesis because of its nuclear program — which Iran insists is for peaceful purposes only — as well as Iran’s military presence in Syria supporting President Bashar Assad, and its backing of armed groups like Hezbollah.