A drone attack launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon on Oct. 19 targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence in Caesarea scored a direct hit on the home, reports said Tuesday.
Following the attempted assassination, security measures for government ministers and other officials have been “significantly” reinforced.
“Iran tried to eliminate the prime minister of Israel. It will not escape responsibility,” a senior Israeli government official told Ynet.
According to reports, which the country’s military censor cleared for publication on Tuesday, the assault included three drones, one of which scored a direct hit on a bedroom window at the Caesarea residence. Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, were not home at the time.
“The attempt by Iran’s proxy Hezbollah to assassinate me and my wife today was a grave mistake,” the prime minister said in a statement on Saturday. “This will not deter me or the State of Israel from continuing our just war against our enemies in order to secure our future.
“I say to Iran and its proxies in its axis of evil: Anyone who tries to harm Israel’s citizens will pay a heavy price,” Netanyahu warned.
Hezbollah media chief Mohammed Afif during a press conference in Beirut on Tuesday declared the Iranian-backed terrorist organization’s “full, complete and exclusive responsibility for the Caesarea operation.”
The Lebanese terrorist spokesman also warned, “If we did not reach you this time, then we will reach you the next time. Between us lie the days, nights and the battlefield.”
The Saudi state-owned Al-Hadath television news channel reported earlier on Tuesday that diplomatic officials at the Iranian embassy in Lebanon were directly involved in the attempt on Netanyahu’s life.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday that he was relieved Netanyahu was “safe after the attack that reportedly targeted his home in Caesarea this morning,” Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said on Saturday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, former President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also condemned the attack on Netanyahu, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement on Monday.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel on Tuesday on his 11th visit to the region since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. Washington hopes to revive ceasefire efforts after the killing of top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, but so far all the warring parties appear to be digging in.
Blinken landed just hours after Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets into central Israel, setting off air raid sirens in the country’s most populated areas and its international airport, but causing no apparent damage or injuries. His meeting with Netanyahu stretched for more two hours on Tuesday afternoon. He was also expected to meet with President Isaac Herzog, Gallant, and strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer.
The Israeli military said that it intercepted most of the five projectiles, with one landing in an open area. Another 15 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel at around the same time, it said.
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