The Israel Air Force (IAF) shot down an unmanned aircraft that flew across the Syrian interim border into the Golan Heights on Sunday afternoon, the Israeli military said in a statement.

A Patriot ground-to-air missile battery engaged the drone near Quneitra, an area adjacent to the border with Israel in the northern Golan Heights, the statement said. The region has been a flashpoint of heavy fighting between Syrian government troops and rebel forces in recent days.

It was not immediately clear whether the drone was armed with explosives or sent on a reconnaissance mission to take aerial image. Nor was it clear whether the aircraft was intentionally flown into Israel or strayed across the border due to human error. An Israeli military spokesman assessed that the drone belongs to the Syrian army and was errantly flown into Israeli territory.

Last Week, Israeli aircraft struck Syrian military posts after several mortars fired from the Syrian side of the border landed in an Israeli community on the Golan Heights, slightly injuring a civilian.

Sunday's drone interception was the third of its kind over the past two months. IAF's Patriot missiles have successfully intercepted two drones launched by Islamist militant group Hamas during Israel's recent 50-day military campaign in the Gaza Strip. The first drone was shot down on July 14 over the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, while the second was intercepted three days later over the city of Ashkelon.

Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, claimed to have launched the drones and captured images of Israel's military's headquarters in Tel Aviv during one sortie, but acknowledged losing contact with two unmanned aircraft in others.

The Israeli military said the drones intercepted during the Gaza conflict were carrying both cameras and explosives, claiming that Iran has enabled the creation of Hamas' drone by financing and transferring technology.

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