On Saturday, a drone targeted the residence of Netanyahu, though no casualties were reported. The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that Netanyahu’s private residence in Caesarea was the target but announced that neither he nor his wife was home at the time of the attack.
Netanyahu has claimed that “agents of Iran” were behind the attack and would “pay a heavy price”.
But the Iranian permanent mission to the United Nations dismissed the claim, saying Iran had “already responded to the Israeli regime”.
Responding to a question about the attack on Netanyahu’s residence, it added, “The action in question has been carried out by Hezbollah in Lebanon.”
On Tuesday, spokesman Mohammed Afif told reporters Hezbollah “declares its full, complete and exclusive responsibility for the Caesarea operation targeting… Netanyahu”.
Israel has been targeting Lebanon since October 2023, after the regime launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
Since late September, Israel has escalated its strikes against Hezbollah, assassinating its leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah and a number of its senior figures.
At least 2,500 people have been killed by Israeli fire, and nearly 12,000 others wounded since the clashes began October last year, according to the health ministry.
In a statement issued on Friday, Hezbollah announced the start of a new phase in its retaliatory operations against Israel, which has been conducting strikes on Lebanon and Gaza for more than a year.
The Operations Room of Hezbollah announced “the transition to a new and escalating phase in the confrontation with the Israeli enemy”, and that the decision was made “based on the directives of the Resistance Command”.