As of: 04/06/2023 4:41 p.m
For the first time in about a year, rockets have been fired from Lebanon at northern Israel. According to Lebanese information, Israel responded with counterattacks.
At least 34 rockets have been fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, according to Israeli sources. 25 missiles were intercepted by the Israeli missile defense system, the Israeli army confirmed on Twitter.
Rocket alarms were raised in dozens of cities and towns near the border. Local residents reported explosions. The Israeli rescue service Magen David Adom reported three people injured, including a man who was hit by shrapnel in the majority Christian town of Fassuta. Rescue teams have been put on alert across Israel.
Israel apparently reacted with artillery fire
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a security cabinet meeting for the evening. Defense Minister Joav Galant announced a meeting with senior officials.
Lebanese security circles said Israel’s artillery was attacking targets in the border area. According to the ANI news agency, the Israeli army fired “several grenades from their positions on the border” at southern Lebanon. “Several rockets” of the Katyusha type had previously been fired from there at Israel.
Author of the attacks unclear
It was unclear which group was behind the attack. The shelling came just hours after the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah said it would support the Palestinians against Israel, the Times of Israel reported.
The background is violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in the past few days. The radical Islamic Hamas in the Gaza Strip had also responded to the incidents at the holy site by repeatedly firing rockets at southern Israel.
The Reuters news agency, however, reported, citing Israeli security circles, that not Hezbollah but Palestinian groups in Lebanon could be responsible for the attacks.
Hezbollah controls large parts of southern Lebanon. It also maintains close ties to Hamas and the militant Palestinian organization Islamic Jihad, which is also active in the Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah last fired rockets at Israel in April last year. The Israeli military responded with artillery fire. Israel and Lebanon are officially at war. There is always tension at the border between the two countries.