3 suspected Hezbollah drones hit northern Israel

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said three drones, suspected to have been launched by militant group Hezbollah from Lebanon, struck northern Israel in separate incidents on Sunday, causing no casualties.

“Two impacts of suspicious aerial targets in Israeli territory were identified near the Israel-Lebanon border. No injuries were reported,” the military said in an initial statement.

Later in a separate statement, the military said another “hostile aircraft” infiltrated the northern Israeli territory.

In the wake of the strikes, two far-right Israeli ministers called for retaliatory strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold known as Dahiyeh.

“The shooting at northern communities is a test of the Dahiyeh Doctrine that the prime minister declared. I call on him to implement it decisively and firmly, and to bring down buildings in Dahiyeh,” finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said on X.

“For every drone — a missile; for every violation — fire; for every UAV — Dahiyeh must tremble,” wrote national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir on X.

Israeli officials including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu have previously warned that Israel would strike Dahiyeh should the Iran-backed Hezbollah group target northern Israeli communities, a position they say has the backing of Washington.

The military meanwhile issued sweeping evacuation warnings for residents of 29 villages in southern Lebanon ahead of strikes there, despite a ceasefire intended to halt the war with Hezbollah.