Air raid sirens sounded over northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Sunday morning as Hezbollah drones flew across the border undetected and proceeded on to their target – an IDF Iron Dome battery.
Israeli media said at least three drones were involved, with one of them shot down over Metula, a small settlement running right up against the border with Lebanon. Two more apparently evaded air defenses made their way to Katzrin, the unofficial capital of the Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan Heights.
The explosive-laden UAVs reportedly crashed down in open areas outside the settlement, one of them sparking a blaze. The Israeli military deployed forces to the area to search for debris. No injuries were reported.
The Israeli Air Force announced overnight strikes Saturday and early Sunday morning against suspected Hezbollah compounds in Beqaa, Bint Jbeil, Qana, and Baraachit “in response” to the group’s shootdown of a $6 million Israeli Hermes 900 heavy drone near Deir Kifa, southern Lebanon.
Along with the drone shootdown, Hezbollah fired a pair of 500 kg Burkan rockets into northern Israel on Saturday, with Israeli media reporting that one of the rockets landed a direct hit on the Gibor Military Base near Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel.
Clashes between Hezbollah and the IDF broke out last fall in the aftermath of the dramatic escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict last October, when a surprise Hamas raid into southern Israel from Gaza sparked a massive Israeli bombing campaign and ground offensive into the besieged 365 square km strip of land.
The fighting between Hezbollah and the IDF forced Israel to keep a substantial portion of its military in the north, and has caused hundreds of casualties on both sides. Nearly 200,000 Lebanese and Israeli civilians have been displaced from border areas by the fighting, with at least 89 Lebanese, 10 Israeli, and 15 Syrian civilians killed to date.
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