Israel strikes Lebanon after Netanyahu vows revenge for drone attack

Air strikes and shelling reported across the country's south and on Beirut's southern suburbs

Buildings damaged by Israeli air strikes in Beirut. Reuters

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At least nine people were killed as Israel carried out shelling and air strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs and Lebanon's south on Sunday, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned he would exact a “heavy price” for a drone attack on his home.

Two people were killed in an attack on a house in the southern town of Burj Rahhal, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported, with another two people killed in a strike on Deir Qanoun Ras Al Ain, near Tyre. A further five people died in the nearby towns of Srifa and Kafr Dunin.

Strikes and shelling were reported across the south and on Beirut's southern suburbs, where several attacks took place near a hospital and mosque in the Haret Hreik neighbourhood. The Israeli army issued a displacement order for Haret Hreik residents at about 4am local time, ordering people in the area and the Al Hadath neighbourhood to leave “immediately”. The military claimed it had targeted a Hezbollah intelligence headquarters and underground weapons store.

Israeli attacks have now killed 2,448 people and wounded 11,471 across Lebanon since cross-border fighting began in October last year, caused by the war in Gaza. Most have been killed since Israel launched an all-out war on Lebanon last month and a ground invasion on October 1.

Thirty people were killed in 82 different attacks across Lebanon on Saturday, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Sunday morning. The latest assault comes a day after a drone was launched at Mr Netanyahu's private home in the coastal town of Caesarea, in what he later described as a Hezbollah assassination plot. Mr Netanyahu and his family were not home at the time.

“The attempt by Iran’s proxy Hezbollah to assassinate me and my wife today was a grave mistake,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “I say to Iran and its proxies in its axis of evil: Anyone who tries to harm Israel’s citizens will pay a heavy price.”

While the militant group has not publicly claimed responsibility for the attack, Iran's mission to the UN denied Tehran was behind it and said it was carried out by Hezbollah.

The drone was one of three launched from Lebanon. Two were intercepted but the other made it through Israel’s sophisticated air defence systems without activating alarms. The house, in the affluent town of Caesarea, sustained superficial damage, according to media reports. Israel’s military censor initially placed reporting restrictions on the incident and some details remained unclear.

Officials blamed Iran for the strike and said the attack constituted a significant escalation. Gideon Sa’ar, a member of Mr Netanyahu's security cabinet, also pointed the finger at Lebanon. “The fact these attacks were carried out by an Iranian proxy – Hezbollah – does not absolve Lebanon of responsibility,” he said.

Members of Mr Netanyahu’s Likud party accused political opponents of not condemning the strike. “More than 24 hours have passed since the Iranian assassination attempt on the Prime Minister of Israel, and the heads of the opposition, Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz, have not published a single word of condemnation against our enemies,” a spokesman for the party said. Mr Gantz said the criticism was “petty politics”.

The drone attack came a week after four soldiers were killed and 58 wounded in another Hezbollah drone strike on a military base in northern Israel.

Sirens sounded across northern Israel on Sunday morning, including in the northern city of Haifa, which has previously been targeted by Hezbollah rocket fire. One rocket was intercepted from Lebanon, the Israeli army said, with two more landing in an open area shortly afterwards.