Hezbollah says fires rocket salvo at northern Israel

Hezbollah claimed to have fired rockets at northern Israel on Saturday, targeting a military installation close to Haifa, following reports from the Israeli army of a deluge of missiles fired from Lebanon.

Hezbollah, which has promised to step up its attacks on Israel weeks into an all-out conflict that broke out on September 23, claimed credit for the “large salvo” of sophisticated missiles that struck a military base east of Haifa.

The group supported by Iran had earlier claimed to have fired a missile volley into an area to the north of Haifa city.

According to a spokesman for emergency care provider Magen David Adom, five individuals were hurt in Kiryat Ata, in the Haifa district, primarily from shrapnel injuries.

Firefighting crews and paramedics were called to Kiryat Ata after a rocket in the neighbourhood destroyed a three-story building and set fire to two automobiles, according to AFP footage.

The attacks in Haifa coincided with reports from Israel that on Saturday, a drone attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in the town of Caesarea in central Israel.

Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli premier and his wife were not in Caesarea during the drone attack and “there were no injuries”.

Hezbollah, a group of militants in Lebanon, fired missiles from several positions throughout the morning, causing sirens to sound throughout Israel.

The group with Iran’s support announced on Thursday that it was starting a new “escalatory phase” in its conflict with Israel.

After nearly a year of cross-border engagements, Israel sharply increased the frequency of its airstrikes on Lebanon late last month and dispatched ground forces.

Two individuals were killed on Saturday in an Israeli hit on a crucial route north of Beirut, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. This was the first attack on the area since Hezbollah and Israel began exchanging gunfire last year.

According to an AFP compilation of Lebanese health ministry numbers, at least 1,418 people have died in Lebanon as a result of the fighting since September, though the actual death toll is probably higher.