Rockets hit empty school, preschool in north after IDF strikes arms depot in Lebanon

An empty school and preschool were hit in rocket barrages fired from southern Lebanon toward Israeli communities on Sunday, as several fires sparked by Hezbollah missile attacks raged in the north of the country.

There were no injuries as the rocket struck a school in Kibbutz Dafna in the Upper Galilee, which has been largely evacuated of civilians since cross-border attacks from the Lebanon-based terror group began on October 8.

Another rocket hit the yard of a preschool in Kibbutz Hanita in the Western Galilee, similarly causing no casualties.

Hezbollah took responsibility for the attacks, saying that they came “in response to the Israeli enemy’s attacks that targeted civilians in the town of Adloun, injuring several of them,” referring to overnight IDF strikes on terror targets in Lebanon.

Rocket and drone alert sirens rung out across northern communities near the border with Lebanon several times throughout the day on Sunday, with impacts and shrapnel from interceptor missiles sparking fires in the Golan Heights, potentially increasing risk of damage, due to the blazing summer temperatures.

Earlier in the day, the IDF carried out a drone strike on a Hezbollah cell spotted in southern Lebanon’s Houla, while two Hezbollah weapon depots were struck by Israeli fighter jets in southern Lebanon overnight Saturday, which the IDF said were used to store rockets and other weaponry.

Lebanese media reported that one of the strikes targeted the southern coastal village of Adloun, some 30 kilometers (some 18.5 miles) north of the border, hitting an arms depot and causing a series of secondary explosions that hit nearby villages with shrapnel.

The state-run National News Agency, or NNA, said that three people were slightly wounded in the nearby village of Kharayeb and hospitalized.

The agency did not provide additional details about the arms depot, but it was believed to belong to Hezbollah, which has a wide presence in the area. The explosions lasted more than an hour after the airstrike, NNA reported.

As Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel continued over the weekend, some 50 dunams were burned in a fire at the Banias nature reserve, caused either by rockets or shrapnel from interceptor missiles. Two teams of firefighters tackled the blaze near Kibbutz Snir in the Galilee Panhandle, close to where the borders of Israel, Lebanon, and Syria meet.

Also Saturday, Hamas said cells in Lebanon fired rockets from toward an IDF post in the northern village of Shomera in retaliation for the “Zionists massacres” in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian terror group has carried out such attacks from Lebanon over the past several months, though they are rare.

Meanwhile, the government unanimously approved former IAF Vice Admiral (res.) Eliezer Marom to oversee the rehabilitation of Israel’s northern communities that have been harmed during the fighting against Hezbollah.

The appointment was initially made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in June, when he also simultaneously appointed Maj.-Gen. (Res.) Yiftach Ron-Tal to lead the rehabilitation in the south.

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 373 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.

Lazar Berman and Agencies contributed to this report.