The Israel-Lebanon border fence, north of Metula. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

A small Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) crashed in Lebanon, close to the Israeli border Saturday morning, according to Lebanese military sources, Israel Radio reported Sunday.

“The drone crashed on the Lebanese border, inside Lebanese territory. Lebanese troops are in the area,” the source told AFP.

In photos from the crash site, near Marjayoun, some 15 kilometers (nine miles) north of the border, Lebanese military officials are seen carrying broken segments of the vehicle, apparently a hand-launched Skylark surveillance drone.

“During routine operations along the border area with Lebanon, an unmanned aerial vehicle, while on a surveillance mission along the border, crashed due to a technical malfunction,” the IDF said in a statement, Israel Hayom reported.

In response to the incident, the Hezbollah terrorist organization threatened retaliation against Israel.

“The era of moving the fighting outside of Israel’s territory is over,” said a senior Hezbollah official quoted by Lebanese media outlets. “The Israeli communities along the border need to know they are on our target list during any conflict.”

In a similar incident in February, IDF troops briefly entered Lebanon to retrieve the aircraft, according to the AFP.

Israel often sends aircraft over Lebanese airspace, in order to keep tabs on Hezbollah terrorist activity in the southern part of that country, Lebanese media said.

Watch a video of the Skylark in action:

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JNS.org contributed to this report.