The Israeli Defense Shield (iron dome) intercepted 25 of 34 this Thursday rockets which were launched from Lebanon, causing five devices to fall on Israeli territory and the wreckage causing two minor injuries. As for the remaining four, the location of the fall was not yet known at the close of this edition. The attack, which will be the deadliest since the 2006 war in which Israel took on Hezbollah’s powerful Lebanese Shiite movement, was not claimed. But Israeli security forces are pointing the finger at Palestinian Hamas, at a time of renewed tension at the Al-Aqsa mosque complex.
‘The current situation is extremely serious’ said the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which patrols the border between the two countries (technically still at war). “UNIFIL calls for containment to prevent further escalation,” it said in a statement. Lebanon said it was fully cooperating, but Israel was under pressure to respond forcefully. “No one should test us and we will take the necessary measures to defend our country and our people,” diplomatic chief Eli Cohen tweeted, calling on the international community to condemn the attacks. The US has said Israel has the right to defend itself.
The attacks followed two nights of clashes at the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem. On Wednesday, Israeli police carried out a raid that ended with 350 arrests and 37 wounded on the Palestinian side. The incident, the third holiest site to Islam, took place in the middle of Ramadan and at the start of Jewish Easter festivities, and was criticized by the international community – Arab and beyond. UN Secretary-General António Guterres was “stunned” by the violence.
In May 2021, clashes in Al-Aqsa caused a rain of rockets launched by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad from the Gaza Strip, to which Israel responded with bombardments. The violence lasted two weeks and caused the deaths of at least 256 civilians on the Palestinian side, including 66 children, and 14 on the Israeli side, two of whom were children.
Since Wednesday evening at least seven o’clock rockets were launched from Gaza, causing sirens to blare in southern Israel. But it was the rain rockets of Lebanon of most concern, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convening a National Security Council meeting — the first since February.
An Israeli army spokesman accused Hamas of being behind the attack, which is still under investigation. “But one thing is certain: the state of Lebanon is responsible when missiles are fired from its territory and we are investigating Iran’s involvement.”
you rockets from Lebanon appeared on the day that Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, was in Beirut and scheduled a meeting with Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah. Haniyeh canceled a visit to South Lebanon after the latest developments. Hezbollah, with ties to Iran, pledged “solidarity” with the Palestinians and supported “all measures” against Israel following the violence in Al-Aqsa, but denied responsibility for the attack, which was reportedly launched from a camp for Palestinian refugees in South Lebanon.
Source: DN
