October 20, 2024 | Flash Brief

Hezbollah Drone Targets Netanyahu Home as Iranian-Backed Terror Group Claims War with Israel Entering “New Phase”

October 20, 2024 | Flash Brief

Hezbollah Drone Targets Netanyahu Home as Iranian-Backed Terror Group Claims War with Israel Entering “New Phase”

Latest Developments

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu charged Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah with attempting to assassinate him after a drone targeted his coastal home on October 19. Neither Netanyahu nor his wife were present at their home in the coastal town of Caesarea during the attack, and no casualties were reported. The drone was one of three launched from Lebanon as Israelis marked both the Jewish Sabbath and the holiday of Sukkot. Images circulated online suggested the pilotless plane had hit Netanyahu’s vacation residence in the town, causing some external damage. A statement released by the prime minister’s office confirmed that there were no injuries a statement that the prime minister and his wife were not at home during the attack and that no one was hurt. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that the attack had targeted “the State of Israel and its government symbols.”

Within hours, Netanyahu issued a video, apparently taped outdoors in Caesarea, in which he said: “Nothing will deter us. We will press ahead until victory… The agents of Iran who tried to assassinate me and my wife today made a bitter mistake.”

Separately, Hezbollah fired at least 180 rockets at Haifa and other parts of northern Israel. In the town of Acre, a man was killed by shrapnel. Ten others were wounded in the latest barrage.

On October 18, Hezbollah said it was entering a “new phase” of escalation against Israel after more than a year of attacks that began in the immediate aftermath of the October 7, 2023 atrocities in southern Israel carried out by its Hamas ally.

Expert Analysis

“This was definitely an escalation, though the end result was failure. It is also worth remembering that such an attack was originally meant to come in the midst of as many as 3,000 rockets a day from Lebanon, rather than the fraction of that number that has transpired. The fact remains that Israel has dramatically degraded Hezbollah, leaving the Lebanese group able to deliver only symbolic stabs rather than strategic blows.” —  Mark Dubowitz, FDD CEO

“Time and again in recent days, Hezbollah has managed to use a drone to lethal effect by sending it across the border as part of small swarms of the pilotless planes. The penetration of a drone launchd by Hezbollah suggests that there is a spoofing effect apparently under way against Israel’s advanced air defenses. This needs to be quickly addressed. Israel has learned the hard way that intercepting some, rather than all, simply won’t do.” — Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst and Editor at FDD’s Long War Journal

Israel Looks to Private Defense Sector to Counter Drones,” FDD Flash Brief

How Iran’s drones became a threat to the Mid East and world,” by Seth J. Frantzman

Hezbollah Drone Strikes Israeli Apartment Building in Nahariya,” FDD Flash Brief

What types of deadly drones is Hezbollah using against Israel?” by Seth J. Frantzman

Issues:

Issues:

Hezbollah Iran Israel at War

Topics:

Topics:

Acre Benjamin Netanyahu Haifa Hamas Hezbollah Iran Israel Lebanon Nahariya Shabbat Yoav Gallant