On Saturday morning, the Home Front Command activated unusual alerts about an earthquake in dozens of communities in the Golan Heights, Haifa, and the Krayot area.
In some of the communities, the same sirens used to warn of rockets were activated, warning of an "earthquake." The Geological Institute of Israel issued a statement saying, "The earthquake alerts occurred following a significant controlled explosion that took place this morning in the northern region. The alert system identified the explosion as an earthquake, and the alert was disseminated accordingly."
The IDF spokesperson clarified that this is not a security incident: "In the last few minutes, sounds of explosions were heard in the northern Israel area due to IDF forces' activities in southern Lebanon. There is no concern of a security incident."
The Golan Regional Council informed its residents: "IDF forces demolished an enemy compound. Due to the explosion of a very large amount of explosives in Lebanon - an earthquake alert was activated in extensive areas of the country in the last few minutes. There is no change in the guidelines for civilians."
The demolition was reported to have used more than 400 tons of explosives and to have been felt all the way to the other end of Israel in Eilat. The seismic monitoring system, codenamed T'ruah after one of these sounds of the shofar, has reportedly been operational and monitoring Israel for three years, but was only activated for the first time by the explosion.