Israeli military says attacking rocket-launch site in Lebanon after two rockets fired
Rocket fire comes after Israel concludes one of its largest military operations in Jenin
BEIRUT: Israeli forces struck an area of Lebanon from which a cross-border rocket launch was carried out on Thursday, the military said.
The statement said a rocket fired earlier from within Lebanon had exploded within Israeli territory. A previous, statement by the military had said there were no preliminary findings of any unusual events on Israel’s side of the border.
Earlier three security sources in Lebanon said two rockets were fired from southern Lebanon towards Israel on Thursday, one of them landing in Lebanese territory and the second near a disputed area at the border.
Israel’s military spokesperson said on Twitter that its army had “found no incident within Israeli territory” but that an explosion had taken place “beyond the border fence”.
There was no claim of responsibility for the reported rocket fire and no immediate comment from the Lebanese army or the United Nations’ peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon (Unifil).
The sources in Lebanon said one rocket landed near the Lebanese border village of Wazzani and the second near the disputed village of Ghajar, which straddles the Israel-Lebanon border but whose residents profess allegiance to Syria.
The rocket fire came after Israel concluded one of its largest military operations in years in the West Bank in the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin.
Hezbollah, the powerful, Iran-backed Lebanese group that controls southern Lebanon and has fought several wars with Israel, expressed support for the Palestinian cause during the Israeli operation.
Hezbollah did not comment on the reports of rocket fire.
In a separate statement, the armed group condemned what it called “dangerous measures” taken by Israeli forces in the northern part of Ghajar, which Lebanon considers to belong to it.
Hezbollah accused Israel of erecting a wire fence and building a cement wall. Lebanon’s foreign ministry on Tuesday said it was concerned by the moves, saying they were creating a “new reality on the ground”. There was no immediate response from Israel’s military to the Hezbollah accusation.
Israel blamed the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas for firing rockets into Israel from Lebanon in April during another flare-up in Israeli-Palestinian violence. That prompted Israel to hit sites in Lebanon.