A Hezbollah drone that evaded Israeli air defenses managed to strike near, or at, the private home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu early Saturday, though he was not physically present, and there were no reported injuries.
Axios reported that Netanyahu’s private residence in the coastal town of Caesaria was actually hit. The Times of Israel reported that it was “targeted” but did not confirm that the home was actually impacted by the drone strike.
The Prime Minister’s Office said merely that a drone was “launched towards the Prime Minister’s house” and that Netanyahu and his wife were not there at the time.
A statement by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at 8:17 a.m. said:
During the past hour, three UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory.
Two of the UAVs were intercepted.
One additional UAV hit a structure in the area of Caesaria. No injuries were reported.
During the incident, sirens were activated in the Glilot military base.
The presence of additional hostile aircraft in the area has been ruled out.
The incident is under review.
If successful, the drone attack would have had a significant effect on the war. Israel can be expected to respond — and not necessarily just in Lebanon: the apparent attempt on Netanyahu’s life could mean Iran’s leaders are fair game.
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 Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.