Prime Minister Yair Lapid met today in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron. One of the main topics of their conversation was the escalation between Israel and Hezbollah. Before embarking for France, Lapid said, “There have been repeated attacks on Israeli gas rigs. Israel will not tolerate these attacks. Anyone who does this is taking an unnecessary risk.” He then called on the Lebanese government to “rein in Hezbollah from these attacks, or else we will need to do it.”

This past Saturday, Hezbollah launched three unmanned aircrafts toward the Karish gas rig in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea. The IDF discovered the small aircraft in flight and shot them down by means of a fighter jet and a navy artillery ship. The interceptions occurred at various distances from the Karish rig, and at least one of the aircraft came within a few miles of it. 

The Karish natural gas rig was placed in the Mediterranean Sea just a few weeks ago, south of the maritime border between Israel and Lebanon. It is not yet active. Though there is no dispute between Israel and Lebanon over the Karish rig's location, some elements in Lebanon have claimed that Israel violated Lebanon’s economic zone and Secretary General of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah threatened Israel following the rig’s placement. 

Shortly after the interception, the IDF shared the news that Hezbollah had launched them, estimating that Hezbollah had not aimed to damage the rig but only to score publicity points by photographing the rig and publishing the photos, or had simply tried to send a threatening message to Israel. Since there were no secondary explosions during the interception, it is unlikely the drones had carried explosives.