A drone launched by the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah hit Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Caesarea, north of Tel Aviv, amid an interception failure.
The website of the Times of Israel newspaper said on Saturday that one of the three drones fired at Israel from Lebanon earlier this morning targeted “Netanyahu’s private residence in the coastal city of Caesarea, southern Haifa.”
Posts on Israeli social media also said the building that was hit in the attack was “part of Netanyahu’s house.”
Israeli media declined to provide further details on the extent of damage and possible casualties following a ban by the military.
“Hezbollah UAV reportedly struck what’s believed to be Benjamin Netanyahu’s private home in Caesarea,” reports said, claiming, “Netanyahu wasn’t present, and no injuries were reported.”
The Israeli occupation forces admitted that the regime’s air defenses were unable to intercept the drone as it pierced through occupied territories.
“A major failure [occurred] in an interception operation as an infiltrating drone flew right beside the military helicopter searching for it on the outskirts of occupied Haifa,” Israeli media reported.
Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen news channel cited the Israeli military as saying that three drones made their way from Lebanon to Haifa, with only two being detected and intercepted.
The news channel added that the third one, however, struck a building in Caesarea accurately and eyewitnesses confirmed that the explosion was huge.
“Sirens blared in military bases in the Glilot settlement in northern Tel Aviv after the drone entered occupied airspace. However, for the first time ever, sirens went off in Tel Aviv without being activated on the internal front’s mobile application. Thus, settlers were not notified of any evacuation orders,” al-Mayadeen reported.
The Israeli occupation army said the drone kept hovering overhead for an hour before striking the building, describing the event as “a tough morning.”
The regime’s media have been censored and prohibited from disclosing information regarding the Hezbollah attack.
Hezbollah strikes northern Israel in fresh attacks
Earlier in the day, Hezbollah also targeted with drones and missiles a number of strategic Israeli military sites in Haifa and other areas in the occupied territories as part of a new phase of retaliatory operations against the illegal entity in solidarity with the people of the besieged Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah announced in separate statements on Saturday that it struck with a squadron of drones an Israeli military base southeast of Haifa as well as several illegal settlements and military gatherings.
“In support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in support of their valiant and honorable resistance, in defense of Lebanon and its people, and in response to the Zionist aggression and the targeting of civilians and the massacres committed by the Zionist enemy, we carried out the operation of launching a squadron of attack drones at the Nashrim base southeast of Haifa,” one of the statements said.
“The Islamic Resistance will remain present and ready to defend our country and our oppressed, proud people, and it will not hesitate to fulfill its duty to deter the enemy from its arrogance and oppression.”
The popular Lebanese movement also targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers in the Malikiyah settlement with a rocket barrage, also striking another gathering in Jal al-Deir, northeast of the Avivim settlement.
At least three rocket impacts were recorded in the Krayot area northeast of Haifa, with the resistance media saying several direct hits were achieved, notably on a vehicle in Kiryat Ata settlement, which damaged a building and wounded a settler.
In a statement issued on Friday, Hezbollah announced the start of a new phase in its retaliatory operations against Israel, which has been conducting strikes on Lebanon and Gaza for more than a year.
The Operations Room of Hezbollah announced “the transition to a new and escalating phase in the confrontation with the Israeli enemy,” and that the decision was made “based on the directives of the Resistance Command.”
Israel has been targeting Lebanon since October 2023, after the regime launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
Since late September, Israel has escalated its strikes against Hezbollah, assassinating its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and a number of its senior figures.
At least 2,350 people have been killed by Israeli fire, and 10,906 others wounded since the clashes began last year, according to the health ministry.