![Members of Israel’s security forces secure the site of a drone strike near the northern Israeli town of Binyamina [Oren Ziv/AFP]](https://mmnews.tv/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Hezbollah-drone-attack-on-IDF-base.jpg)
A Hezbollah drone attack on an Israeli army base in central Israel killed four soldiers and critically wounded seven others, marking the group’s deadliest strike since Israel began its ground invasion of Lebanon nearly two weeks ago, the Israeli military said on Sunday.
Hezbollah said that the attack near Binyamina was in retaliation for Israeli airstrikes on Beirut last Thursday that killed 22 people.
The group claimed it specifically targeted Israel’s elite Golani Brigade, deploying dozens of missiles to occupy Israeli air defense systems as “squadrons” of drones conducted the assault.
Israel’s national rescue service reported that the attack wounded a total of 61 people.
The attack occurred shortly after news that the U.S. is sending a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense battery and around 100 American troops to Israel, signaling deeper U.S. involvement in the region’s ongoing crisis.
Earlier on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi cautioned that the U.S. was “risking the lives of its troops” by deploying them to operate American missile systems in Israel.
Meanwhile, in Lebanon, UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned recent attacks that have injured several peacekeepers, according to his spokesperson. The UN peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL, reported that two Israeli tanks destroyed a gate and forcibly entered a base in southern Lebanon. UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric affirmed, “UNIFIL peacekeepers remain in all positions, and the UN flag continues to fly.”
