Israel shelled southern Lebanon on Saturday after a rocket slammed into its territory in a tit-for-tat exchange of fire across their tense border, sources on both sides said.
Israeli rescue services said three people were injured when the rocket struck near the town of Maalot in the western Galilee region, triggering an immediate response from Israel.
“The Israeli army considers this a serious incident and believes it is the responsibility of the Lebanese government and the army to prevent this rocket fire,” an Israeli army spokesman said.
PHOTO: AFP
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora denounced the violence, which caused panic on both sides of the border, while the militant Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah denied any involvement.
“The Israeli shelling is an unacceptable and unjustified violation of Lebanese sovereignty,” Siniora said in a statement. “The rockets launched from Lebanon threaten the country’s security and stability and constitute a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.”
He was referring to the resolution that brought an end to the devastating 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon that left more than 1,200 people dead.
Lebanese President Michel Suleiman reiterated his opposition to the country being used as a platform for the launch of rockets, saying he regards it as a challenge to Lebanon’s will.
A spokesman for Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency rescue service said three people were lightly wounded and another two were treated for shock.
Hezbollah spokesman Ibrahim Mussawi said the group had “nothing to do” with the attack, which was launched from a region largely controlled by Hezbollah and its Amal party ally.
The head of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which patrols the border area, urged maximum restraint.
“The UNIFIL force commander Major General Claudio Graziano has been in contact with the senior commanders of the Lebanese and Israeli army with a view to ensuring that the cessation of hostilities is maintained,” UNIFIL spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane said.
A Lebanese army spokesman said Israel fired eight artillery shells after two rockets were launched from a banana plantation near the village of El-Henniyeh, in the El-Qlayleh region about 10km from the border.
There were no reports of injuries in Lebanon.
One of the two rockets landed in Israel and the second apparently malfunctioned and landed in Lebanon, Bouziane said.
Panicked residents could be seen fleeing as Israel retaliated.
“My six-year-old girl was terrified,” said Hassan Faqih, 49, as he headed to the nearby coastal town of Tyre with his wife and two children. “We will stay in Tyre if the situation escalates.”
Last month, rockets were fired on two occasions from Lebanon into Israel in attacks that frayed nerves on both sides of the border and raised fears that Israel’s war on Gaza in December and last month could spread.
Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, also denied involvement in those attacks.
The Lebanese government, in which Hezbollah is represented, has repeatedly stressed that it is committed to the UN-brokered truce that ended the war.
Earlier this month, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned that any attack by Hezbollah would prompt a tough response from Israel.
“I want to say here, on the border, that I don’t recommend that Hezbollah test us because the consequences would be more painful than one can imagine,” Barak said during a visit to the frontier area.
Maalot was the scene of an attack on a school by Palestinian gunmen in 1974 in which 26 people were killed, most of them children.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the