Rockets hit northern Israel from Lebanon

"Rockets fell in northern Israel without causing injuries or damage," an Israeli army spokesman said.

"The Israeli army responded immediately by firing in the direction from where the rockets were launched." In Lebanon, a security official said that several rockets were launched in the area of Habariyeh and that the Israeli military retaliated with artillery shells.

Israeli planes also could be seen overflying the area at low altitude.

The attack comes on the 19th day of a massive Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip -- which has sparked widespread outrage across the Muslim world. With memories still fresh of 2006 -- when war broke out between Israel and Hezbollah in the midst of a Jewish state's offensive in Gaza -- Wednesday's incident again sowed panic on both sides of the border.

While Israelis headed for bomb shelters, Lebanese schools shut down and many residents panicked and fled fearing an all-out conflict.

"This is inexcusable and aims to paralyse day-to-day life," said Omar Batheesh, a 60-year-old potato farmer in the area, denouncing those behind the rocket strikes.

The rockets were launched from a mountainous area, where the Lebanese army was deployed in force on Wednesday seeking to collect evidence. An Israeli army spokesman said:

"Israel considers it the responsibility of the Lebanese army and government to prevent rocket fire from Lebanese territory."

Lebanese Defence Minister Elias Murr stressed following a cabinet meeting on Tuesday: "Lebanon will not be a base for launching missiles.

Lebanon is not a theatre for war and this is a decision made by the government, the army, the resistance and the Lebanese people." On January 8, three rockets slammed into northern Israel from inside Lebanon, lightly wounding two Israelis in an attack in which the Hezbollah Shiite militia denied any involvement.

The Lebanese government, in which Hezbollah is represented, has repeatedly stressed that it was committed to the UN-brokered truce that ended the 2006 war and that it does not want to be dragged into the Gaza conflict.

But there are heightened fears that extremist groups operating in Lebanon could take advantage of the situation to launch attacks on Israel and analysts have said that last week's incident was likely to have been carried out with the militia's tacit approval.

"Nothing happens in the south without Hezbollah's knowledge," said Osama Safa, head of the Lebanese Centre for Policy Studies.

Last week Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned that "all possibilities" were open against Israel amid its deadly offensive in Gaza. Before the January 8 attack, the last time rockets from Lebanon slammed into northern Israel was on June 17, 2007.

They landed in Kiryat Shmona causing minor damage and no casualties. At the time, Hezbollah denied responsibility and Israel also said Hezbollah was not involved in the attack and blamed it on an unnamed Palestinian group.

Israel and the Hezbollah militia fought a 34-day war in 2006, after guerrillas from the Lebanese Shiite movement seized two Israeli soldiers in a deadly cross-border raid.

The war killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

During the conflict, Hezbollah sent more than 4,000 rockets into northern Israel. Israel's war on the Hamas movement -- like Hezbollah backed by Iran -- entered its 19th day on Wednesday with the Palestinian death toll nearing 1,000.