FASSUTA (Israel): A barrage of rockets was fired from Lebanon at Israel on the Jewish Passover holiday Thursday, in the largest escalation along the frontier since Israel and Hezbollah fought a 34-day war in 2006.
Israel’s army said it had “identified 34 rockets that were fired from Lebanese territory into Israeli territory” and that 25 were intercepted by Israeli air defences.
“Five rockets landed in Israeli territory,” added the army statement that followed the attack, which was not immediately claimed by any group.
The rocket fire came just days after Israeli police drew widespread condemnation and warnings of retaliation from around the region for clashing with Palestinians inside Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque — Islam’s third-holiest site.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday was “receiving continuous updates about the security situation and will conduct an assessment with the heads of the security establishment”, his office said.
Israeli emergency services reported a man had been lightly wounded by shrapnel and a female was injured while running to a shelter.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon called for restraint.
“The current situation is extremely serious,” said the force which patrols the border area between the two countries that are technically still at war. “UNIFIL urges restraint and to avoid further escalation.” Warning sirens sounded in the town of Shlomi and in Moshav Betzet and the Galilee in northern Israel, the army said.
The Israeli military denied to AFP that it had retaliated “thus far”, in response to reports from Lebanon’s National News Agency that Israel had struck targets in southern Lebanon.
According to the Lebanon report, Israeli artillery fired “several shells from its positions on the border” towards the outskirts of two villages after the launch of “several Katyusha type rockets” at Israel.
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant had been briefed on the details of the events on Israel’s northern border, a spokesman said. “The minister will soon conduct a situation assessment with senior officials in the defence establishment,” he added.