Hezbollah’s Drone Strike Hits Netanyahu’s Residence Near Haifa

Beirut – In a significant breach of Israeli security, a drone launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon targeted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s heavily guarded residence in Caesarea, near Haifa, on Saturday. The attack marked an embarrassing failure for the Israeli military, as the drone managed to evade interception and struck Netanyahu’s private residence in the coastal city during the morning hours.

The Israeli military confirmed the drone strike on Caesarea, while two additional drones launched on the same day were intercepted before reaching their targets. The incident caused air-raid sirens to sound at a military base in Glilot, located just north of Tel Aviv. However, no alarms were triggered in Caesarea, raising questions about the military’s response capabilities. Initial reports were sparse due to restrictions placed on the media, with sketchy details on the damage or casualties. One account indicated that the drone hovered over the area for an hour before striking, describing it as a “tough morning” for the military. The military acknowledged that Netanyahu was not at the residence during the attack, and no injuries were reported.

In a related development, Israel’s Army Radio revealed that the drone that hit Caesarea was of the same type used in a previous attack on a Golani Brigade camp, which resulted in the deaths of four soldiers and injuries to several others. The drone’s advanced capabilities and difficulty to intercept have raised concerns over Israel’s vulnerability to drone attacks. Nearly a week before the strike on Netanyahu’s residence, a similar Hezbollah drone strike at a military training base near Binyamina, just outside Caesarea, had already resulted in casualties.

Following the attack, the Iranian military issued a statement confirming Hezbollah’s involvement, noting that the “Lebanese brothers” had carried out the drone strike on Netanyahu’s residence. They also released visuals from the area surrounding the site of the attack. The incident occurred as Hezbollah declared a new phase in its retaliatory operations against Israel, citing solidarity with the people of Gaza and Lebanon. The group had been intensifying drone and missile strikes on strategic Israeli military sites in Haifa and other areas in the north.

Hezbollah’s retaliatory operations followed ongoing Israeli strikes on Lebanon and Gaza, which have largely targeted civilian areas for over a year. On the day of the drone strike, rockets were also fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, resulting in one fatality near Acre from shrapnel and several injuries in Kiryat Ata, a city in the Haifa district. Emergency services reported that the injuries were primarily caused by shrapnel.

The increasing frequency and intensity of drone incidents have highlighted Israel’s vulnerabilities. In June, Hezbollah released footage of sensitive sites in Haifa, filmed by a drone that managed to hover undetected over the city. In July, a drone launched by Yemen’s Houthi militia struck an apartment building near a U.S. Embassy branch in Tel Aviv, causing casualties and damage. The latest attack underscores the evolving threat of drone warfare in the region and the ongoing tensions between Israel and its adversaries.

As Hezbollah continues to announce new phases of its retaliatory operations, Israel faces growing challenges in defending its airspace and maintaining security amidst an increasingly complex conflict landscape.