Drone hits Nahariya, IDF warns Lebanese to flee Baalbek as US mediators head to

A drone fired from Lebanon hit an aviation plant in northern Israel, and Israel warned residents of a Hezbollah stronghold deep inside Lebanon to flee ahead of airstrikes, as Israel and the terror group continued to trade blows ahead of the arrival of senior US officials hoping to halt the deadly fighting.

The Israel Defense Forces said late Wednesday morning that residents in the northeastern Lebanese city of Baalbek should evacuate immediately, with warplanes set to target sites connected to the Iran-backed terror group in the area.

“The IDF will act forcefully against Hezbollah assets inside your city and villages, and does not intend to harm you,” Col. Avichay Adraee said on X, attaching a map showing a large part of Baalbek and surrounding towns in the Beqaa Valley.

Residents of Baalbek rushed out of their homes in response to the order, and an AFP correspondent reported that the main roads out of the city were jammed with vehicles as civilians fled in panic.

Civil defense vehicles drove around the city urging everyone to leave immediately over loudspeaker. “The city is almost empty,” the correspondent said about an hour after the evacuation warning.

The area, a UNESCO World Heritage site home to 3,000-year-old Roman ruins, is seen as a Hezbollah power base, and has come under repeated Israeli attack since fighting against the terror group ramped up last month. On Tuesday, the Beqaa Valley’s district governor said some 60 people had been killed in strikes the night before.

The warning was issued hours after a drone impacted in the northern coastal city of Nahariya and a ballistic missile fired from Lebanon triggered warning sirens in dozens of cities and towns north of Tel Aviv. In the northern border town of Metula, a rocket attack injured two farmhands, one seriously.

The IDF said the UAV that struck in Nahariya was only picked up by military radar just before it struck, the latest incident in which a drone appeared to evade Israel’s air defenses and early warning system. An investigation was opened, the army said.

According to reports in Hebrew-language media, the drone hit an aviation plant in Nahariya, causing slight damage. A picture distributed online showed broken windows and a small hole in a corrugated steel roof of what appeared to be an industrial building.

עיריית נהריה: נזק קל נגרם לגג של מבנה תעשייתי בצפון העיר. ייתכן שמדובר בפגיעת סוג של כלי טיס, ללא התרעה. הנושא בבדיקה@CBeyar pic.twitter.com/MHfu4eJ19m

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) October 30, 2024

The attack appeared to be the only successful one of at least six drones fired at northern Israel overnight, with most of them setting off alarms in the Western Galilee. The army said it downed two drones within half an hour of each other after 5 a.m. and another three within minutes of each other after 8 a.m.

In central Israel, rocket sirens sounded in Netanya, Hadera and nearly 50 other towns and communities in the heavily populated coastal Sharon region just after 6:15 a.m. Wednesday. The IDF said the alarms were triggered by the launch of a surface-to-surface missile from Lebanon, which subsequently broke up in mid-air.

Later Wednesday morning, two people were wounded by shrapnel from rocket fire while working in a field near the town of Metula on the border with Lebanon. Rambam Hospital in Haifa said one of the men, in his 40s, was seriously wounded, while the other, in his 30s, was in light-to-moderate condition.

There were no other reports of casualties or major damage in the attacks. The day before, Hezbollah fired at least 75 rockets at northern Israel, killing one person.

There was also no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks from the Iran-backed terror group, which has pounded Israel with hundreds of rockets and attack drones daily since fighting intensified in mid-September.

A drone from Lebanon explodes on a bridge in Nahariya, October 29, 2024 (Video screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

In a series of statements, the group claimed to have repeatedly shelled Israeli forces on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese town of Khiam. Lebanese state media reported Tuesday night that Israeli tanks had rolled into Khiam’s environs, marking the IDF’s deepest incursion yet into southern Lebanon since the start of the ground operation against Hezbollah last month.

Israel stepped up its military campaign…