- More than 30 rockets fired from Lebanon
- The Israeli military believes Palestinian factions are behind the attack
- Strikes follow Israeli raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque
JERUSALEM/BEIRUT, April 6 (Portal) – More than 30 rockets were fired from Lebanon at Israel on Thursday, the Israeli military said, amid escalating tensions after Israeli police raids on Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque this week.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to hold a security cabinet meeting to decide a response to the attack, the largest rocket attack on Israel from Lebanon since 2006, when Israel was at war with the heavily armed Lebanese Hezbollah.
“No one should test us, we will take whatever action is necessary to defend our country and our people,” Secretary of State Eli Cohen said on Twitter.
The Israeli military said 34 missiles were fired from Lebanon, 25 of which were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system. The Israel Rescue Service said one man sustained minor shrapnel injuries.
The incident came as Israel came under global pressure following police raids on the grounds of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which this year coincides with the Jewish holiday of Passover, which begins Wednesday evening.
There was no admission of responsibility, but an Israeli military official also said Israel was working on the assumption that the attack was linked to the Palestinians.
Three non-Israeli security sources also said that Palestinian factions in Lebanon and not Hezbollah were responsible for the rocket fire, although it was widely believed that Hezbollah should have given its consent.
“It’s not a Hezbollah shooting, but it’s hard to believe that Hezbollah didn’t know about it,” Tamir Hayman, a former Israeli military intelligence chief, said on Twitter.
Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Islamist group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, visited Lebanon but there was no immediate comment from the group. There was also no immediate comment from the Lebanese military or Hezbollah.
Television footage showed large plumes of smoke billowing out over the northern Israeli border town of Shlomi, with wrecked cars on the streets. Public broadcaster Kan said the Israel Airport Authority has closed northern airports in Haifa and Rish Pina.
“I’m shaking, I’m in shock,” Liat Berkovitch Kravitz told Channel 12 Israel News, speaking from a fortified room in her home in Shlomi. “I heard a pop, it was like exploding in space.”
CALLS FOR RETENTION
In a written statement, the United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) described the situation as “extremely serious” and urged restraint. It said UNIFIL chief Aroldo Lazaro was in contact with authorities on both sides.
Amid fears that the confrontation could deepen, after a year of escalating Israeli-Palestinian violence, the United Nations Security Council held a closed meeting to discuss the crisis.
US Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Wood described the situation in the Middle East as serious and said tensions should not escalate.
“It will be important for everyone to do everything possible to reduce tensions,” he told reporters on his way to the Security Council meeting.
The rocket fire adds another complication to the sectarian-nationalist government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had seen mass protests against his proposals to contain the Supreme Court ahead of this week’s violence at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Netanyahu last week delayed bitterly controversial plans to overhaul the judiciary.
Thursday’s rocket attack followed attacks from Gaza, where Palestinian militants fired a series of volleys of rockets into Israel after police raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a site also sacred to Jews who know it as the Temple Mount.
In response, Israel has hit targets in Gaza linked to Hamas, which it blames for all attacks from the blocked stretch of coast.
Mohammad Al-Braim, spokesman for the Palestinian People’s Resistance Committee, speaking from Gaza, praised the rocket attacks from Lebanon, which he linked to the Al-Aqsa incidents, but took no responsibility.
He said: “No Arab and no Muslim would remain silent while (Al-Aqsa) is being invaded in such a brutal and barbaric manner, without the enemy paying the price for his aggression.”
Reporting by Henriette Chacar in Jerusalem, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Beirut Office, Michelle Nichols at the United Nations. Writing by James Mackenzie. Edited by Andrew Heavens, Mark Heinrich and Frances Kerry
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