A home in Kibbutz Manara was set afire Monday morning after a direct hit by an anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) fired by Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon.
A barrage of at least six anti-tank missiles was fired by the terror organization, including two that were aimed at Kibbutz Manara at around 10:30 am. No physical injuries were reported.
The projectiles also struck farmland near Kibbutz Yir’on, according to the Upper Galilee Regional Council. Fighters from the Yir’on community defense department are working to put out the resulting fire.
“Over the past few hours numerous anti-tank launches were identified toward the areas of Manara, Yir’on, Avivim, Margaliot and Yiftach in northern Israel,” the IDF said.
Several buildings were hit directly in Manara and Yir’on, the IDF said. “Additionally, fires broke out in the areas of Yir’on, Yiftach and Manara. The fire in Manara was extinguished shortly afterward.”
Anti-tank missiles are powerful but short-range missiles that often fly too low for the Iron Dome aerial defense system radar to pick up, thus reducing the chances of intercepting the attack.
Red Alert incoming rocket alarm sirens were also activated in the northern coastal city of Nahariya at around 12:43 pm Monday afternoon. At least one rocket fired by Hezbollah landed in the Mediterranean Sea, not far from the city’s beach, as seen in video footage on social media. “The IDF Aerial Defense Array successfully intercepted two suspicious aerial targets over the coast of Nahariya,” the IDF said.
Two additional targets that crossed from Lebanon landed in the area of Kabri, igniting a fire and causing damage in the area.
Red Alert sirens were activated in Metula, Manara, Tel Hai and surrounding communities as well.
Overnight UAV Alert Near Haifa Deemed False Alarm
In the early hours of Monday – about an hour after midnight Sunday night – Red Alert sirens were activated in Kiryat Bialik and the coastal city of Akko, near the Haifa Bay.
The alert was activated over concerns that interception of an attack would result in shrapnel dropping from the skies.
The suspected explosive suicide drone attack launched by Hezbollah was subsequently determined to be a false alarm.
Why So Many ‘False Alarms’ in Northern Israel?
For those who are wondering: the reason for false alarms in such cases is because Hezbollah possesses drones of various sizes in its arsenal and uses them all.
Some of those drones are as small as 40 centimeters long – about 16 inches, or a little longer than a foot – but carry a payload of at least one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of explosives.
Now imagine trying to visualize that object at a distance of at least a mile or more – during the day or worse, at night – while working to determine whether it is really a military threat, or simply a bird (like a large pigeon, hawk or crow).
IDF aerial defense forces are tasked with this unenviable mission literally every second of every day around the clock, along with having to make the decision on what to do about it.
