IDF shells Lebanon after rocket fire

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Two rockets were fired at northern Israel from Lebanon early on Tuesday morning, setting off incoming rocket sirens in communities along the border.

One rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system and the other struck an open field. There were no injuries or damage and the IDF said that there were no special instructions for residents.

The IDF said it responded with tank shells towards the Wadi Hamoul valley where the rockets had been fired from.

The attack came several hours after clashes on the Temple Mount between Israel Police and Muslim protesters on the Jewish holiday of Tisha Ba’av and ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. 

In May, during Operation Guardian of the Walls, a dozen rockets were fired into Israel from the same area in Lebanon causing several people to be injured while running for shelter. 

For the first time since the Second Lebanon War in 2006, incoming rocket sirens were activated in the southern Galilee region, as well as the Haifa suburbs of Kiryat Bialik and Kiryat Motzkin after four rockets were fired.

Several days earlier, six rockets were fired from Rashaya Al Foukhar, north of Kfar Choub in southern Lebanon. All fell short of the border and landed inside Lebanese territory, the IDF said – adding, however, that one of the rockets may have crossed into Israel.

The IDF fired back toward the source of the rocket launch in Lebanon with some 22 tank and artillery shells.The Lebanese Army announced on Tuesday that it had found three rocket launchers for 122mm Grad rockets, with one rocket intended for launch, near the town of Qlaileh, located south of Tyre, according to Hezbollah-affiliated reporter Ali Shoaib.

It is still unclear who fired the rockets early on Tuesday morning but the IDF believes it to be the same Palestinian militants who fired the rockets in May. Hezbollah is not suspected to be behind the rocket fire.

 

Defense Minister Benny Gantz tweeted about the incident, saying: “The one responsible for the night shooting is the Lebanese state, which allows terrorist acts from inside its territory. The State of Israel will act in the face of any threat to its sovereignty and its citizens and will respond in accordance with its interests, at the relevant time and place”.

In response to the rocket fire, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett stressed that Israel “would not allow Israeli sovereignty and security to be violated.”

“Whoever tries to harm us – will pay a painful price,” said Bennett. “We operate all the time, day and night, in all arenas, and we will continue to do so.”

“Lebanon is on the verge of collapse, as is any country in which Iran is based. Its citizens were taken hostage by [Ali] Khamenei and [Hassan] Nasrallah in favor of Iranian interests,” added the prime minister, calling the situation in the country “unfortunate,” but stressing that Israel would not accept the situation leaking from Lebanon.

In a recent interview, Col. Raz Haimlich, Commander of the Artillery Corps Fire Brigade 411th “Keren” Battalion told The Jerusalem Post that with the Lebanese economy in a free-fall, the IDF is concerned that there may be an increase of incidents along its northern border.

“The Lebanese economy is not good, and that can lead to things happening on the border,” he said.

Haimlich’s battalion has responded to several incidents along the Lebanese border including during the fighting with Gaza when a number of Lebanese rioters damaged the border fence and crossed into Israel near the community of Metula. 

The rocket fire on Tuesday came shortly after Israel was alleged to have struck targets near al-Safirah, in Syria’s Aleppo province. According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the strikes targeted a weapons depot belonging to Iranian-backed militias inside Syrian Army bases.



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