Two flares land near Netanyahu’s home

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Two flares landed near Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence on Saturday in the central town of Caesarea, security services said, describing the incident as “serious.”

“Two flares landed in the courtyard outside the prime minister’s residence,” police and the Shin Bet internal security agency said in a joint statement.

“The prime minister and his family were not in the house at the time of the incident,” they added.

“An investigation has been opened. This is a serious incident and a dangerous escalation.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned the incident and warned “against an increase in violence in the public sphere.

“I have now spoken with the head of the Shin Bet and expressed the urgent need to investigate and deal with those responsible for the incident as soon as possible,” Herzog said in a post on X.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the flares.

The incident comes after a drone attack targeting the same residence on 19 October, which was later claimed by the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

Netanyahu at the time accused Hezbollah of attempting to assassinate him and his wife.

Since 23 September, Israel has escalated its bombing of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, later sending in ground troops after almost a year of limited, cross-border exchanges of fire begun by Hezbollah militants over the war in Gaza.

Two people were injured when a synagogue was hit in Haifa by a “heavy rocket barrage” from Hezbollah earlier Saturday, the Israeli military said.

Separately, the army said it had intercepted some of the “approximately 10 projectiles” that crossed from Lebanon into Israel.

Hezbollah claimed several rocket attacks on northern Israel, saying it targeted military sites including a naval base in the Haifa area.

Meanwhile, an Israeli strike hit south Beirut on Sunday where the military said it targeted Hezbollah, hours after the Iran-backed group said it fired on Israeli bases around the city of Haifa.

A column of smoke rose over the capital’s southern suburbs, AFPTV footage showed, following a warning from the Israeli military for residents to evacuate three areas.

Further south, overnight Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling hit the flashpoint southern town of Khiam, some six kilometers from the border, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported early Sunday.

The bombardment came after Israel’s military reported a “heavy rocket barrage” on Haifa late Saturday and said a synagogue was hit, wounding two civilians.