Israel’s enemies repeatedly attack with combat drones. There are many casualties in an attack by the Lebanese Hezbollah near the city of Binjamina. The militia threatens Israel with even harsher blows.
Four soldiers were killed in a drone attack by the Lebanese Hezbollah militia on an Israeli army base near the city of Binjamina. As the army announced that night, seven other soldiers were seriously injured. According to emergency services, more than 60 people were injured in the attack on Sunday. This makes it one of the bloodiest attacks on Israel since the Gaza war began just over a year ago.
The warning sirens had not blared before the attack. “We will investigate how a drone can enter and hit a base without warning,” Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari announced in a statement shortly after midnight, according to media.
Hezbollah threatens Israel with increased attacks
The pro-Iranian Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack. An Israeli military training camp in Binjamina was attacked with a “squadron of attack drones”. Israel’s radar systems did not detect the sophisticated drones, Hezbollah announced on Telegram that night. The Shiite militia threatened Israel with even more violent attacks if the neighboring state did not stop its offensive in Lebanon – and that “what he experienced today in the south of Haifa is just a small foretaste of what awaits him when he decides to continue its aggression against our noble and beloved people”.
Army spokesman: Will provide better protection
According to an initial investigation, Hezbollah launched two kamikaze drones from Lebanon that entered Israeli airspace from the sea, the Times of Israel reported. Both drones were detected by radar and one was shot down off the coast north of Haifa. Planes and helicopters tracked the second drone, but it disappeared from the radar. No sirens sounded because it was assumed that the drone had crashed or been intercepted, the newspaper reported. The drone eventually landed near Binjamina.
Israeli army spokesman Hagari urged the public not to spread rumors about the attack 60 kilometers north of the city of Tel Aviv until the facts were clear, according to the Times of Israel. “We are obliged to ensure better protection,” he was quoted as saying. “We will investigate this incident, learn from it and improve.”
US sends Israel new missile defense system
In order to strengthen Israel’s air defense after recent heavy missile attacks by Iran, the United States is sending a battery of the state-of-the-art missile defense system THAAD and an associated US military team to Israel. The move underscores the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defense of Israel, the US Department of Defense said. In view of the escalating Middle East conflict, the USA had already relocated a missile defense system battery to the region last year, but not to Israel itself.
Meanwhile, according to the Israeli army, Hezbollah fired rockets again into northern Israel during the night. Accordingly, the air defense successfully intercepted around five projectiles coming from Lebanon. Warning sirens had previously sounded in the Bay of Haifa and surrounding communities. According to the Times of Israel, the explosions of defensive shells could be seen in the night sky over Haifa.
Israel’s army reports Hezbollah positions near UN posts
According to the Israeli army, Hezbollah, which is allied with Iran, has deliberately set up its positions in southern Lebanon near posts of the UN peacekeeping mission Unifil. Last month, about 25 rockets were fired at Israeli communities and troops from Hezbollah positions near such UN posts. Two soldiers were killed in one of these attacks. In limited and “targeted” operations, Israeli troops encountered underground weapons caches just “a few dozen to a few hundred meters” from Unifil posts, it said. Over the years, Hezbollah has deliberately built up its attack infrastructure near UN peacekeeping mission positions.
After UN peacekeepers were fired upon during clashes between Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah, UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged restraint. Unifil troops’ personnel and posts should never be targeted, he said through a spokesman: “Attacks on peacekeepers violate international law, including international humanitarian law. They could constitute a war crime.” Responding to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call to withdraw Unifil troops from combat areas, Guterres said the peacekeeping force would remain at its bases there.
Dozens more dead in Lebanon
Meanwhile, dozens of people were killed again in Israeli attacks in Lebanon. The Ministry of Health announced on Sunday evening that 51 people were killed in various regions of the country on Saturday. 174 people were injured. According to the army, three soldiers from the regular Lebanese armed forces also suffered injuries.
The Lebanese army itself is not actively involved in the conflict between Hezbollah and the Israeli military. It is not Israel’s declared war opponent, but Hezbollah. In total, according to Lebanese figures, more than 2,300 people have been killed and almost 10,700 injured in Lebanon since fighting broke out between Hezbollah and Israel’s military over a year ago.
Meanwhile, Israel’s air force said it again attacked a command center of Hamas, which is allied with Hezbollah, in the Gaza Strip. The army said on Telegram that night that she was in the center of the sealed-off coastal strip in a building that had previously served as a hospital. The command center was used by Hamas terrorists to plan and carry out attacks on Israeli troops and the State of Israel. The Israeli army’s statements could not be independently verified.
Polio vaccination in the Gaza Strip enters its second round
The second round of polio vaccinations is scheduled to begin in the Gaza Strip today. According to the UN, around 590,000 children under the age of ten are to be vaccinated. Israel and the UN organizers agreed on area-specific humanitarian ceasefires. The polio vaccinations must be administered in two doses; a first round was given at the beginning of September. In the summer, the first case of polio in 25 years was discovered in the sealed-off Palestinian territory, much of which was devastated in the Gaza war.