Israeli military plane crashes in Lebanon

Israel’s military has announced there are no security concerns or information leaks. 

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

In a rare occurrence, an Israeli Air Force jet crashed in Lebanon on Wednesday because of a technical malfunction.

The incident is being investigated, but Israel’s military has announced that there is no security concern or information leak.

A similar occurrence happened in August when a military plane crashed off the coast of Palmachim, also because of a technical problem.

A few weeks after the Palmachim incident, a helicopter crashed in Rafah, but this time, two soldiers, including the pilot, were killed, and seven were wounded.

The incident was initially censored by the military and only cleared for publication after a preliminary investigation by the army.

The fatal crash occurred when an American-made Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, operated by the Israel Air Force, was attempting to land after evacuating a soldier wounded in combat in the Rafah district late Tuesday night.

The Black Hawk, known as “Yanshuf” in the IAF and part of the 123rd Squadron, was carrying a medical team from the army’s Unit 669 when it crashed.

While trying to land at an IDF position near Rafah, the helicopter crashed around 12:30 a.m.

The preliminary IDF investigation into the crash suggested that the aircraft was not struck by enemy fire and likely was the result of an accident. The precise cause of the accident was not immediately clear, however.