12 October 2023; MEMO: Warning sirens were set off in northern Israel yesterday, sending “millions” to shelters amid reports of “hostile aircraft” breaching the border with Lebanon, the Times of Israel has reported.
Shortly after 6:30 pm local time, air raid sirens were activated due to conflicting reports that Hezbollah had launched a massive drone attack and deployed paragliders. It was later deemed to be a false alarm put down to human error.
There have been exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli military in recent days, with casualties claimed by both sides. The Lebanese resistance movement has yet to announce if it has joined the Hamas-led Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, which saw hundreds of Palestinian guerrillas enter southern Israel last weekend.
“The prospect of a similarly murderous mass invasion by Hezbollah along the northern border sparked panic in a country on edge,” said the Times of Israel.
A report by The Drive states that Hezbollah has a “tremendous arsenal of long-range strike weapons and well-trained and equipped fighters. Its entry into the fight would pose a tremendous challenge to Israel, both in terms of seeing its air defences overwhelmed and having to cope with a ground war that would stretch its army thin.”
The Israeli military’s Home Front Command said that “a suspected infiltration has been ruled out.” Reports instructing citizens to remain in the shelters across the country were a human error, it added. “There is no such instruction. We ask residents to follow the instructions of the Home Front Command and act accordingly.”
Yesterday, a spokesman for Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Abu Hamza, said that the battle is no longer limited to the Gaza Strip. He claimed that other fronts may soon join in the battle, emphasising that the scope of fire is expanding and that events in South Lebanon were merely a small example of what is awaiting “the enemy”.
