Drone hits Netanyahu’s home as Hezbollah rockets target northern Israel

Sirens are activated across Israel’s north as ‘large volley of rockets’ is fired towards several areas, including Haifa.

A drone has hit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s holiday home in the country’s north, Al Jazeera has confirmed, triggering air raid sirens across Israel, including the main city of Tel Aviv.

Netanyahu’s spokesman said one of three drones launched from Lebanon hit Netanyahu’s residence in the town of Caesarea on Saturday, adding that he was not in the vicinity and there were no casualties.

The two other drones were intercepted, the Israeli military said, adding that a total of 55 rockets were fired across northern Israel from Lebanon, injuring at least 13 people.

Iran-aligned Hezbollah has been trading fire with Israel since last October last year.

Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Amman, Jordan because Al Jazeera has been banned in Israel, said while little is known about the attack on Netanyahu’s residence due to restrictions imposed by the Israeli military, she had received confirmation that the drone attack did hit the prime minister’s house.

“This is an area where a lot of power is concentrated,” she said. “The fact that a drone was able to go undetected 70km from the Lebanese border, no sirens went off, and it struck the intended target, that has caused a lot of concern in Israel and in the Israeli security establishment.”

She said “a large volley of rockets” from Lebanon were used as decoys to launch the drone attack on Netanyahu’s house. Sirens were activated across northern Israel, including the cities of Galilee and Haifa, she said.

Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel and is seen as a strategic port city that is home to 300,000 people and the country’s naval headquarters.

“The sirens went off just right after we got confirmation that a drone attack actually succeeded in targeting and striking the house of the Israeli prime minister in Caesarea,” Odeh said.