Mass Drone Attack Reported from Lebanon; Northern Israel in Shelters; UPDATE: False Alarm

Lebanon border (Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu via Getty)
Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu via Getty

Israelis in the northern part of the country, near the border with Lebanon, were warned Wednesday to descend into bomb shelters after sirens indicated a large attack of drones, but it was a false alarm.

The Times of Israel reported that the Israeli military called off the alert, saying it had been a false alarm caused by “human error.”

The Times of Israel earlier reported, citing Israel’s Channel 12, that “some 15-20 drones were identified flying into the country from Lebanon.”

The Times of Israel added:

Incoming drone alerts are continuing to sound in northern Israel.

The sirens are sounding in every town and city in the north, including the Golan Heights.

The head of the Galil Elyon Regional Council, Giora Zaltz, tells Channel 12 news some of the aircraft that infiltrated from Lebanon are carrying people, and residents need to seek shelter.

Israel’s Army Radio reported that rockets had landed near the northern coastal city of Haifa, and that there had been a suspected terrorist infiltration.

It also advised residents in the region to stay in their homes, to take shelter in reinforced “safe rooms,” and to keep their doors and windows locked.

Unconfirmed reports circulating on social media reported areas where warnings of possible drone attacks had been issued.

There have already been small but deadly clashes along the border this week, with Iranian-controlled Hezbollah threatening to open a second front as Israel fights back in response to the mass terror attack by Palestinian Hamas earlier this week.

Iran is known to have a sophisticated drone program that has been deployed on the Russian side in the war against Ukraine.

Hezbollah is believed to have a massive arsenal of rockets that it built up, against international law, in the wake of the Second Lebanon War of 2006, which it also started by infiltrating the northern border and kidnapping and killing several Israeli soldiers.

This story has been updated to indicate that the Israeli military said the drone alert had been a false alarm.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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