The Israeli army said it had launched attacks in Lebanon on Friday, while a Lebanese television station reported explosions in the port city of Tyr.
The incident came hours after three dozen rockets were fired at Israel from southern Lebanon, in the largest attack of its kind since 2006, when the two countries were at war, Israeli forces announced.
There were also several explosions in Gaza on Thursday night, just minutes after the Israeli army announced it was “carrying out attacks in the Gaza Strip,” the agency France-Presse (AFP) reported.
An Israeli military spokesman confirmed that troops had attacked targets in Gaza, the Spanish news agency EFE reported.
“The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attacked two terrorist tunnels and two weapons factories belonging to the terrorist organization Hamas”the military said in a statement, explaining that “the attack was carried out in response to security violations by Hamas in recent days.”
“The IDF holds the Hamas terrorist organization responsible for all terrorist activity from the Gaza Strip and will face the consequences of security breaches against Israel”added the military spokesman.
According to the military, both the projectiles launched this Thursday from the Gaza Strip and the projectiles fired from Lebanon were the responsibility of Palestinian groups.
Palestinian security sources in Gaza said that Israeli “heavy bombing” of the Gaza Strip was carried out with warplanes.
Medical personnel in Gaza confirmed that there have been no injuries so far from these attacks, while witnesses described “large plumes of smoke”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had promised a military response Thursday night after more than three dozen rockets were fired at Israel from Lebanon in an attack he blamed on Palestinian activists.
“We will attack our enemies and they will pay the price for every attack”Netanyahu stressed at the opening of a security cabinet meeting, according to a short video released by the cabinet.
Five of the projectiles that fell on Israeli soil caused two minor injuries and some damage, the IDF said, quoted by the online newspaper The Times of Israel.
On Wednesday, Israeli security forces raided Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, sparking clashes with worshipers.
More than 30 Palestinians were injured and about 350 were arrested.
Israeli police said Palestinians had barricaded themselves inside the mosque “with fireworks, sticks and stones”.
For his part, the leader of the Islamist resistance movement Hamas assured, also this Thursday, in Beirut, that the Palestinians will not “stand idly by” in the face of Israel’s aggression against Al-Aqsa.
Ismaïl Haniyeh called on “all Palestinian organizations to rally ranks and intensify resistance against the Zionist occupation”.
The European Union, the United States and Israel, among others, consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
Source: DN
