Hezbollah rockets struck a suburb in the Israeli city of Haifa, destroying cars and spraying shrapnel on homes, in a revenge attack for Israeli air strikes and sabotage in Beirut.
The Israeli military said rockets had been fired “towards civilian areas” after previous barrages had mainly been aimed at military targets.
Footage from car dashcams caught the moment of the explosions, which appeared to strike the middle of a residential street. Vehicles were left ablaze, and homes hit by debris.
The scenes of destruction in a major city are rare, with Hezbollah rockets normally falling on army positions or abandoned northern villages, and many being downed by Israel’s Iron Dome defence system.
It came as Israel fighter jets hit Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon with one of the most intense bombing raids since the war began.
The Israel Defense Forces said it launched two waves of attacks – one on about 290 targets, and a second targeting 110 sites – across the region.
Israel is thought to be using air strikes and purported sabotage of pagers and walkie-talkies to try to pressure Hezbolllah to retreat north so Israeli civilians can move back to the north of Israel.
On Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, warned: “If Hezbollah did not understand the message … I promise you, it will understand the message.
“We will not suffer this – no state will suffer this, and we will do whatever necessary to return security.”
Israel and Hezbollah have so far resisted escalating the conflict to a full-scale war, despite tit-for-tat exchanges escalating almost daily.
Iran, which backs Hezbollah, is thought to be resistant to a major escalation, while Israel faces internal and external pressure from allies to avoid a ground invasion of Lebanon.
However, Israeli officials suggested last week that the conflict was entering “a new phase” as more military reinforcements were sent northwards.
On Sunday, Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s deputy chief, said his group was also in a new phase in its battle against Israel, which it said had become an “open-ended reckoning”.
“Threats will not stop us… We are ready to face all military possibilities,” he said.
They were the first comments from a senior group official since a strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs killed Ibrahim Aqil, the head of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force.
At least 16 Hezbollah members were killed in the strike, while Lebanon’s health ministry put the death toll at 45, including civilians.
Israel suggested on Sunday that those killed were plotting a new Oct 7-style attack on northern Israel and Galilee.
Hussein Fadlallah, the Lebanese member of parliament for Hezbollah, said the group had already replaced the commanders killed over the weekend.
“There is no vacuum – on the night of the attack in Dahieh, the new commanders were already appointed and began to plan an attack on the enemy. Not a single outpost remains empty of commanders for even a single day,” he said.
Experts believe the Hezbollah attacks that struck civilian parts of Haifa on Sunday risk escalating the conflict further. Usually, Haifa is a “red line”, said Ronen Solomon, an Israeli intelligence analyst.
Schools were closed in several areas of northern Israel, and gatherings restricted, while hospitals were ordered to move operations to facilities with extra protection from rocket and missile fire.
Alana Cohen, a resident, said: “In Haifa, we are not used to this. I have barely slept with all the booms and sirens through the night.”
Daniel Rosenfeld, another resident, said: “The streets are empty – there is a weird feeling here this morning. It [the conflict] hasn’t felt so close as now.”
Sarit Zahavi, from Alma, which focuses on security on Israel’s northern border, said: “It’s the first time during this conflict that Hezbollah has fired rockets, and so many, towards the Haifa area. We are in a new phase in the war and have been living under fire here since October, and we want to see our government doing something.”
Hezbollah claimed it had targeted the Israeli Ramat David Airbase with successive barrages of missiles in part as revenge for the attacks by exploding pagers and walkie-talkies, thought to have been carried out by Israeli secret intelligence.
Some of the drones overnight came from Iran-backed groups in Iraq.
Israel’s wave of bombings marked one of the largest sorties over southern Lebanon in months.
On Sunday, John Kirby, the White House National Security spokesman, said a regional military escalation was not in Israel’s “best interest”, adding that the US was “saying this directly to our Israeli counterparts”. He warned: “The tensions are much higher now than they were even just a few days ago.”
Israeli and Iranian delegations head to New York this week for the UN General Assembly, which falls two weeks before the anniversary of the Oct 7 attacks.
