Sirens blare in Haifa for first time since January

Air-raid sirens were heard in the Haifa area on Tuesday morning, after the Israel Defense Forces launched an interceptor missile at an unidentified object.

The military described the incident as a “false identification,” adding that it was under review. The sirens were sounded due to fears of falling shrapnel from the interception, according to the IDF.

It was the first time sirens were triggered in Haifa since January, when an interceptor missile was fired at a “suspicious target.”

The latest incident came just hours after the military downed a “hostile aircraft” above the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of the northern Israeli city. No sirens were triggered by the intrusion.

Sirens were also triggered in the city in November after Hamas terrorists in Southern Lebanon fired some 30 rockets at northern Israel.

Meanwhile, air-raid alarms sounded throughout Israel’s Galilee and the Golan Heights on Tuesday morning, warning of incoming rocket and missile fire from the Land of the Cedars.

According to local reports, at least 40 rockets were fired towards the Upper Galilee and the Galilee panhandle. No direct hits or casualties were reported in the barrage.

The IDF confirmed some 50 rockets crossed into Israeli territory in the area of the central Golan Heights. Some of the projectiles were shot down, while the rest exploded in an open area, the military said.

Firefighters were dispatched to Had Nes and the Jordan River area of the Golan Heights and Kibbutz Ayelet HaShahar in the Upper Galilee to put out blazes that were sparked by the latest rocket attacks.

On early Tuesday afternoon, Israeli air-defense fighters in the Western Galilee downed a drone that crossed into the territory of the Jewish state from Lebanon. Alarms were activated in the Bedouin border village of Arab al-Aramshe for fear of falling interceptor fragments, the IDF said.

Overnight Sunday, air-raid sirens sounded in Acre in northwestern Israel, as well as in Kiryat Bialik, near Haifa. The alarms were triggered due to fear of falling interceptor fragments after Israeli air-defense systems attempted to intercept a “suspicious aerial target” that had crossed into Israel from Lebanon. The incident was later declared to have been due to a “false identification.”