JERUSALEM, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Israel's military said Tuesday that an Israeli drone crashed in a village in southern Syria, apparently due to malfunction.

The Skylark, a mini unmanned vehicle, crashed near the Druze village of Hader, a military spokesperson said in a statement.

"The crash apparently occurred because of a technical malfunction," the spokesperson added.

The spokesperson said the incident is under investigation, but there was no fear that classified information could be gleaned from the drone as the Skylark's systems shut down automatically.

Israel uses the Skylarks, its smallest drones, for surveillance missions.

It was not the first time that a Skylark, a hand-launched drone, has crashed.

In 2017, the military temporarily grounded its Skylark fleet after at least five drones crashed in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Lebanon during the same year.