Dozens of hostile aircraft intrusion alerts sounded in several communities in northern Israel on Saturday morning. Rocket alarm sirens also sounded in the north.
Shortly thereafter, Israel's Home Front Command announced the hostile aircraft intrusion event had ended. No injuries, rocket falls, or downed hostile aircraft were reported in the immediate wake of the incident.
Later, the IDF said that it had detected 40 launches from Lebanese territory directed at the area of Meron, in northern Israel on Friday. Meron is approximately ten kilometers from the Israeli-Lebanon border.
The IDF added that it had identified no additional rocket launches or hostile aircraft intrusions in other areas of the country.
IDF strikes terror cell
In response, the IDF stated that it had struck a terror cell that was involved in the launches.
Roughly an hour after the first wave of alerts, numerous additional hostile aircraft intrusion alerts sounded in another part of the Israeli north, including areas such as Kiryat Shmona and the Golan Heights.
Hezbollah said it hit a base for the Israeli Air Force's 506th Regional Control Unit early on Saturday with 62 rockets as an "initial response" to the killing of Hamas' deputy chief last week. The terrorist group published footage later on Saturday alleging to show the rockets hitting the base.
Senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri was killed earlier this week in an Israeli drone strike on Beirut's southern suburbs of Dahiyeh.
Analysts said the strike could be seen as a message to Hamas ally Hezbollah that even its prime stronghold of Dahiyeh could be vulnerable to Israeli attack.
Hezbollah had said his killing would not go without punishment. Its head Sayyed Hassan Nassallah said on Friday that being "silent" on the strike would allow all of Lebanon to be vulnerable to more attacks.
IAF jets strike Lebanon again
Later, the IDF acknowledged that rockets had been fired from Lebanon at the areas of Metula and Margaliot in northern Israel and that an Israeli air force UAV struck a terrorist cell responsible for the launches.
The Israeli military added that IAF jets also struck a number of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon in the areas of Ayta ash Shab, Yaroun, and Ramyeh.
Among the targets struck but the Israeli jets were a launch post, military sites, and other terrorist infrastructure, the IDF said.