Hezbollah ‘downed Israeli drone’ after Israel warns of strikes on Hezbollah financial arm

Hezbollah said it had downed an Israeli drone on Sunday, without saying where, after Lebanon state media reported heavy Israeli strikes across the country targeting branches of a financial institution linked to the militants.

Hezbollah fighters from the group’s “air defence units … downed an Israeli Hermes 450 drone”, the armed movement said. The official National News Agency had reported Israeli bombardment in Beirut, south Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley.

Israel had earlier said it was preparing attacks on sites linked to the financial operations of Hezbollah and told residents to leave those areas immediately, as it intensified assaults there and in Gaza.

The warning came hours after Israel said it hit Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in the Lebanese capital Beirut, while officials in Gaza said rescuers were still recovering people from the rubble after an Israeli attack on Saturday that killed dozens.

“Residents of Lebanon, the IDF (Israeli military) will begin attacking infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association – get away from it immediately,” the military’s spokesman said in a statement on X.

The Hezbollah-linked financial institution has more than 30 branches across Lebanon including 15 across central Beirut and its suburbs.