The Israeli army announced the downing of its airliner in Lebanese territory due to a technical defect, while he and Hezbollah ruled out the outbreak of war between the two sides nearly a week after the killing of a party leader in Syria with a raid attributed to Israel.
The Israeli army said in a statement that the drone crashed "during a military operation at the border," stressing that there are no fears of information leakage.
Al-Jazeera correspondent learned from military sources that the plane is a "sky passenger" used by the ground forces in monitoring operations.
Israel regularly launches drones over Lebanon, aimed in particular at monitoring the movements of Hezbollah, Iran's active ally on the Lebanese political scene.
While inspecting a military base near the border with Lebanon, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz blamed "Lebanon and Syria for the responsibility of what is going on in and from their territories."
"We are not seeking to make things worse," Gantz said, but he cautioned against "a very strong reaction" to Israel over any test of its strength.
For his part, Sheikh Naim Qassem, Deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah, said he did not expect war to break out in the coming months.
Qasim said - in a television interview - that "what happened in Syria is an aggression that led to the martyrdom of Ali Kamel Mohsen, and there is no answer about the response, waiting for the next one to come, and let the Israeli count what he wants."
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah had vowed last August - after the killing of two Hezbollah members - to retaliate if Israel killed any other militant from the group in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad.
But Qasim said that "the deterrence equation exists with Israel, and we do not intend to amend this equation, as there is no change in the rules of engagement."
This week, the Israeli army reinforced its deployment on the northern border of Israel with Lebanon, and it closed several roads to traffic, according to Israeli media, the day after the killing of 5 fighters that Israel said were supported by Iran, including a Hezbollah leader.
On Friday, an additional reinforcement of these forces was announced at the border, and the Israeli army said it had "raised its alert status against various possible actions of the enemy."