Northern home damaged by Hezbollah anti-tank missiles, drone shot down over Lebanon

Lebanese terror group claims responsibility as sirens blare in northern towns; IDF downs drones over sea; military probing failed drone interception near Cabri

By Emanuel Fabian
and ToI Staff 10 June 2024, 3:39 pmUpdated at 5:45 pm Edit
The damage to a home in Yir'on from a Hezbollah anti-tank guided missile, June 10, 2024 (Fire and Rescue Service)
The damage to a home in Yir'on from a Hezbollah anti-tank guided missile, June 10, 2024 (Fire and Rescue Service)

Anti-tank guided missiles launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon at the northern border community of Yir’on on Monday caused damage to a home, authorities said, while the terror group also shot down an Israel Defense Forces drone over Lebanon.

The hits came amid ongoing cross-border skirmishes between Israel and the Iran-backed terror organization throughout the day.

The Fire and Rescue Services said firefighters and members of the Yiron’s local security team extinguished a fire at a home that was hit by missiles.

Hezbollah took responsibility for the attack, claiming to have targeted a military position in the area.

Also Monday, the IDF confirmed Lebanese media reports that one of its drones has been shot down by a surface-to-air missile over Lebanon. It said the drone crashed in Lebanon after being hit.

The Lebanese reports said the drone was shot down by Hezbollah over southern Lebanon’s Rihan. The incident marks the fifth time an IDF drone has been shot down by Hezbollah amid the ongoing war.

Sirens also rang out in largely evacuated communities on the northern border with Lebanon on Monday afternoon, with missile and drone alerts sounding in towns and cities including Kfar Blum, Neot Mordechai, Misgav Am, Kfar Giladi, Tel Hai, Kiryat Shmona, Beit Hillel, Metula, Margaliot, Nahariya and Cabri.

The Israel Defense Forces said several suspected explosive-laden drones were launched from Lebanon at the Nahariya area. Two drones were shot down by air defenses over the sea near Nahariya, the military said, while two more impacted near Kibbutz Cabri, causing damage and sparking a fire.

The IDF said it was investigating why it had failed to down those drones, adding that additional suspected drone infiltration sirens in the Galilee were still under investigation.

Footage from Nahariya appeared to show one of the drones.

Also amid the series of alerts on Monday afternoon, the IDF said that it had launched interceptor missiles at a “suspicious aerial target” that entered Israeli airspace from Lebanon.

“The incident is over,” the military said in a statement, adding that sirens had been activated in Acre and Kiryat Bialik due to concerns of falling interceptor shrapnel.

Video shared on social media also showed interceptor missiles being launched overnight Sunday over Acre, as sirens sounded in the coastal city and the Krayot area near Haifa.

The IDF said that after an investigation, it was determined that the target was “a false identification,” and there was no infiltration of a drone or other projectile into Israeli airspace.

Sirens were activated due to fears of falling shrapnel after the interceptors exploded.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said the only injury in the incident was of a woman who was lightly hurt while rushing to a bomb shelter.

On Sunday, a cell of Hezbollah operatives launched anti-aircraft missiles at Israeli fighter jets over southern Lebanon.

According to the IDF, the aircraft were never under any serious threat from the attack. However, it appeared to be the first use of anti-aircraft missiles in Lebanon against Israeli jets since war broke out eight months ago, and came after several weeks that have seen Hezbollah slowly ratchet up the scale, intensity and reach of hostilities.

The IDF said that a short while after the missiles were launched, a drone struck and killed the cell near the coastal Lebanese city of Tyre.

A day earlier, Hezbollah boasted of using the heavy Falaq-2 rocket, which holds a 60-kilogram (132-pound) warhead, against Israel for the first time, and on Friday launched a drone that struck an area some 40 kilometers (24 miles) from the border, in what potentially marked its deepest attack amid the war.

Soldiers inspecting the damage to a building in the northern community of Dovev, after it was hit by rockets fired from Lebanon, during an IDF tour, on May 27, 2024. (Jalaa Marey/ AFP)

Since the day after Hamas’s October 7 attack, 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 on the border have resulted in 10 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 15 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.

Hezbollah has named 334 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 62 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.

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