Two IDF soldiers wounded by Hezbollah drone attack in Golan Heights
One soldier injured moderately, another lightly; Lebanese terror group fires at Israel throughout the day, including barrage of 30 rockets at Dafna
Two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were lightly and moderately wounded in a Hezbollah explosive-laden drone attack in the northern Golan Heights on Saturday, the military said.
According to the IDF, several suspected drones entered Israeli airspace in the attack, and interceptor missiles were launched at them. The drones, however, were not intercepted and struck northern Israel, leading to the injury of the two soldiers.
The attack punctuated a day of hostilities between Israel and the Lebanese terror group, which saw Hezbollah and the Lebanese branch of Hamas attack Israel repeatedly.
Throughout the day, Hezbollah fired rockets and at least one drone, setting off sirens throughout the country’s north.
In the morning, the IDF said air defenses intercepted a suspected drone over southern Lebanon, adding that the drone did not cross into Israeli territory.
Also in the morning, the IDF said that its fighter jets struck several buildings used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon’s Houla.
At noon, sirens sounded in Israeli communities in the Galilee panhandle, indicating that rockets or drones were heading to the area. It was unclear, however, whether there were attacks that landed on Israeli territory.
Later on, Lebanese media reported a strike against a vehicle in the southern village of Borj al-Mlouk, four kilometers north of the Israeli border. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Syrian nationals, including children, had been injured after an “enemy drone targeted an empty four-wheel drive” near their tent.
At 3:35 p.m., a barrage of some 30 rockets were fired at the northern Golan Heights. Hezbollah took responsibility for the attack, saying it was aimed at the community of Dafna and done in response to the attack on Borj al-Mlouk earlier. According to the IDF, some of the rockets were intercepted while others landed in open areas in the Golan Heights, sparking fires.
Hezbollah said it was the first time they had targeted the area.
An additional barrage of 10 rockets was fired at the Western Galilee close to 4 p.m., the IDF said, an attack which Hamas’s Lebanese branch took credit for. No injuries were reported.
Hamas said in a statement that it had fired toward an Israeli military position in the Upper Galilee “in response to the Zionist massacres against civilians in the Gaza Strip.”
No injuries were reported, but the rockets sparked several blazes.
The IDF said its fighter jets attacked rocket launchers in southern Lebanon’s Deir Seryan that it claimed were used by Hezbollah in the attacks earlier in the day, adding that another Hezbollah rocket launcher in Aitaroun was also struck.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.
So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 12 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 18 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 370 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 67 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.
