Hezbollah says fires rocket salvo at northern Israel

Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at northern Israel, including at a military base near the city of Haifa on Saturday after the Israeli army reported a barrage of projectiles launched from Lebanon.

A "large salvo" of advanced rockets hit a military base east of Haifa, said Hezbollah, which has vowed to intensify attacks on Israel weeks into an all-out war that erupted on September 23.

The Iran-backed group also said it had fired a rocket salvo on the northern town of Safed after the Israeli army reported 115 projectiles launched from Lebanon targeting the country on Saturday.

The projectiles were fired mainly into northern Israel, with sirens blaring across the region at regular intervals.

Israeli emergency services said a man was killed by shrapnel near the port city of Acre.

Five people were injured in Kiryat Ata, in the Haifa district, mostly from shrapnel injuries, said a spokesperson for emergency service provider Magen David Adom.

Saturday evening, Hezbollah said it had struck Kiryat Ata "in response to the targeting of civilians... especially the Nabatiyeh massacre" -- a south Lebanon city and district where intense Israeli strikes earlier this week killed 25 people.

The group also dedicated the attack to its slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, who died in a massive September 27 Israeli strike on its south Beirut bastion.

- New 'escalatory phase' -

A rocket damaged a three-storey building and destroyed cars in Kiryat Ata, with firefighting teams and ambulances dispatched to the area, AFP footage showed.

The north Israel attacks came as Israel said a drone targeted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in the central Israeli town of Caesarea on Saturday.

Netanyahu's office said the Israeli premier and his wife were not in Caesarea during the drone attack and "there were no injuries".

The Iran-backed Hezbollah on Friday said it was opening a new "escalatory phase" in its war with Israel.

Late last month, Israel dramatically stepped up its air strikes on Lebanon and sent in ground forces after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges.

Lebanon's health ministry said two people had been killed Saturday in an Israeli strike on a vital highway north of Beirut, in the first attack on the area since Hezbollah and Israel started trading fire last year.

Since late September, the war has killed at least 1,418 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures, though the real toll is likely higher.