Israel confirm four soldiers dead in Hezbollah drone strike on military base

The Israeli military is investigating why no warning sirens were activated over the unprecedented strike near Haifa which left four people mortally wounded and dozens more injured.

The unprecedented strike on the base in the Binyamina area of northern Israel left four people potentially mortally wounded and five seriously wounded, with others hospitalised.

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The Israeli military said four soldiers were killed by a Hezbollah drone strike Sunday on a military base south of Haifa, amid an escalating conflict with the Iran-backed group in Lebanon.

Israel’s air defences, including the Iron Dome system, intercepted most of the projectiles, with few casualties caused by strikes or falling debris.

Nearly 70 people were injured, some critically, in the base near Haifa.

“Yesterday, a UAV launched by the Hezbollah terrorist organisation hit an army base adjacent to Binyamina,” the military said in a statement.

“Four IDF (army) soldiers were killed in the incident and an additional seven were severely injured.” Earlier Sunday, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is at war with Israel, said it had launched “a squadron of attack drones” at a military training camp in Binyamina, south of Haifa, in response to Israeli air strikes on the country.

The incident comes two days after air raid sirens sounded in central Israel after two aerial drones entered the country from Lebanon. At least one building north of Tel Aviv was damaged during the incident.

Hezbollah has been regularly firing rockets and drones into Israel for more than a year, but has reached further since the fighting escalated in late September.

The unprecedented strike on the base in the Binyamina area of northern Israel left four people mortally wounded and five seriously wounded, with others hospitalised, the Israel Defence Forces said.

IDF evacuating some of the wounded via helicopter. https://t.co/6cEPA94ZaApic.twitter.com/BXjoRT5cJa

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) October 13, 2024

The drone was sent under cover of a Hezbollah rocket barrage, Israeli media reports. The Israeli Defence Forces will investigate why no warning sirens were activated, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the drone was a “Mirsad” UAV manufactured by the Iran.

The broadcaster reported that the drone was flying at a low altitude to evade Israel’s detection systems until it struck its target.

In a statement, Hezbollah said it had launched “a squadron of attack drones at a training camp … in Binyamina, south of Haifa in response to Zionist attacks” including Israeli air strikes in the central Beirut neighbourhoods of Basta and Nweiri that killed 22 people on Thursday.

The Israeli military is investigating why no warning sirens were activated over the unprecedented strike near Haifa which left four people potentially mortally wounded.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported Hezbollah fired 3 drones at Israel, with two shot down and one striking “a gathering of Israelis near Binyamina.”

A third drone was shot down over the sea off Haifa, said the IDF.

Hezbollah said it had also fired missiles at another military base shortly after the drone attack. Fighters from the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group launched “missiles at maintenance and rehabilitation base 7200 south of Haifa”, it said.

Hezbollah threatened Israel with more attacks if its offensive in Lebanon continued.

Hezbollah “promises the enemy that what it witnessed today in southern Haifa is nothing compared to what awaits it if it decides to continue its aggression against our... people,” it said.

In what it described as a “complex” operation, the Iran-backed group said it had launched dozens of missiles towards Nahariya and Acre north of Haifa “with the goal of keeping Israeli defence systems busy”.

At the same time, it launched “squadrons of various drones, some of which were being used for the first time, towards various areas in Acre and Haifa, where they were able to get past Israeli air defence radars without being detected” and hit the training camp in Binyamina south of Haifa, it added.

They “exploded in the rooms where dozens of officers and soldiers of the Israeli enemy were present”.

After claiming the Binyamina attack, Hezbollah said it had launched missiles at a “maintenance and rehabilitation base” of the army, also south of Haifa.

The incident comes two days after air raid sirens sounded in central Israel after two aerial drones entered the country from Lebanon. At least one building north of Tel Aviv was damaged during the incident.

Hezbollah has been regularly firing rockets and drones into Israel for more than a year, but has reached further since the fighting escalated in late September.

Israel’s air defences, including the Iron Dome system, have intercepted most of the projectiles, with few casualties caused by strikes or falling debris.

The escalation in Lebanon has killed more than 1,300 people and displaced over a million more from their homes, according to official figures

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