Origin Of The Unmanned Aircraft Was Not Immediately Clear

The Israeli air force engaged and shot down a drone it considered to be hostile in its airspace Saturday. The unmanned aircraft was downed over Israel's southern desert, according to military sources.

The Associated Press reports that it is the first time in half a dozen years that there has been a hostile incursion into Israel's airspace. Officials there said they were taking the incident "seriously," and that they would not rule out some form of retaliation.

Israeli officials suspect the drone was launched by the Lebanese Islamic militant group Hezbollah, which has launched previous drone probes into Israeli airspace.

The drone spend about 20 minutes in Israeli airspace before a decision was made to shoot it down. It is not the first such incident, though they are reportedly rare. Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich told the AP that Israeli jets flew alongside the drone before it was shot down in largely uninhabited northern Nagev region. It reportedly flew in over the Gaza Strip, though it was not believed to have taken off from that area.

While the Israeli military did not give many additional details, it did say there were no explosives on board the unmanned aircraft, and it may have been engaged in a reconnaissance mission.

(File photo of Israeli Air Force F-16 aircraft)

FMI: http://www.idf.il/english/