Four Israeli soldiers were killed, and more than 60 others injured, in a Hezbollah drone strike on an army base in central-northern Israel, according to the Israeli military. The attack, which took place late Sunday, is one of the deadliest incidents since the war began in October last year.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), launched by Hezbollah, struck a base near Binyamina, a town located around 40 miles north of Tel Aviv and near the Lebanese border. Seven soldiers were severely injured in the attack, the IDF confirmed.
Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency service, stated that a total of 61 people were injured.
Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack. It said the drone strike was in retaliation for Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon on Thursday, which killed 22 people and injured 117, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
The group stated that the attack specifically targeted the IDF’s Golani Brigade, an infantry unit that has been deployed in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah released a message from its late leader, Hassan Nasrallah, calling for action, urging its members to “defend your people, your family, your nation, your values, and your dignity,” CNN reported.
Hezbollah issued a warning to Israel, threatening more attacks if Israeli military operations in Lebanon continue.
The Iran-backed terror group “promises the enemy that what it witnessed today in southern Haifa is nothing compared to what awaits it if it decides to continue its aggression against our noble and dear people,” news agency AFP reported.
Questions remain about how Hezbollah’s drones managed to penetrate Israeli airspace undetected. Despite the high reliability of Israeli air defence systems, there were no reports of alerts in the Binyamina area during the attack. Hezbollah claimed to have fired rockets toward northern Israeli towns as a diversion to engage Israel’s defence systems while the drones advanced.
“These drones broke through Israel’s defence radars without detection and reached their target at the Golani Brigade’s training camp,” Hezbollah said in a statement.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the IDF’s chief spokesperson, said the military would investigate the incident. “We will learn from and investigate the incident,” he said.
“The threat of UAVs is something we’ve been dealing with since the war began. We need to improve our defences,” he added.
Source: India Today