Rockets from Lebanon hit Israel

12 Sep 2009, 10:37 am   -   Source: AAP
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Lebanese and UN peacekeeping troops soldiers inspect the area where two rockets were fired into Israel (AAP).

Lebanese and UN peacekeeping troops soldiers inspect the area where two rockets were fired into Israel (AAP).

Several rockets fired from southern Lebanon have slammed into Israel, triggering a retaliatory attack across the border.

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Several rockets fired from southern Lebanon have slammed into Israel, triggering retaliatory artillery fire across the border, the Israeli military said.

"Several rockets hit western Galilee. They did not cause any casualties," a military spokesman said yesterday. "We responded by firing 12 to 15 artillery shells towards the source of the fire."

The Lebanese army said the village of Al-Qlaileh was hit and ambulances were rushed from the port city of Tyre, 9 km away.

A Lebanese security official said two rockets were fired earlier from the village, 15 km from the border. No one immediately claimed responsibility.

Launching area found

Troops and UN peacekeepers later found the wooden platforms from which the rockets were fired, the official said.

In Israel, police said they found debris from Katyusha rockets near the northern city of Nahariya, while witnesses said they heard explosions.

"The IDF (Israel military) considers the Lebanese government and Lebanese military as accountable to prevent such attacks," the spokesman added.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said together with the Lebanese armed forces, it deployed additional troops in the area "to prevent an escalation".

"UNIFIL is in contact with both sides, urging them to exercise maximum restraint, uphold the cessation of hostilities and avoid taking steps which could lead to further escalation," it said in a statement.

No reports of casualties

It said calm later returned to the area, adding that it had no reports of casualties on either side.

Outgoing Lebanese prime minister Fuad Siniora said: "This incident aims to provoke tension and drag Lebanon into a crisis situation," calling it "an attack on Lebanon and its sovereignty".

UN chief Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack and urged restraint.

"The Secretary-General condemns the firing of at least two rockets against Israel from southern Lebanon," spokeswoman Marie Okabe said at the United Nations.

Ban "urges all parties to exercise maximum restraint".

History of conflict

In February, Israeli artillery bombarded Al-Qlaileh in response to similar rocket fire. There were no casualties on the Lebanese side while a few Israelis were lightly wounded.

The Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah, which fought a devastating 34-day war with Israel in 2006 and has its stronghold in the south, denied responsibility for the February attack.

In the 2006 conflict, more than 1,200 people were killed in Lebanon, most of them civilians, along with 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers.

The war started after two Israeli soldiers were captured by Hezbollah fighters in a deadly cross-border raid.

It ended with a ceasefire resolution adopted by the UN Security Council that expanded UNIFIL and demanded the disarming of all militant groups in Lebanon, including Hezbollah, and an end to arms smuggling across its borders.

Condemning Friday's rocket fire, Washington said it showed the importance of the resolution being fully implemented.

State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said it "highlights the urgent need to put arms in Lebanon under control of the state and the need for the international community to remain fully committed on supporting UNIFIL which is the UN mission in Lebanon."

Hezbollah has had no declared arsenal in south Lebanon since 2006, but Israel says the movement has tripled its hoard of weapons and has 42,000 rockets capable of reaching the centre of the Jewish state.

Israel warned last month that the Lebanese government as a whole would be blamed for any attack from its territory if the militant group were part of the new government to be formed after June elections.

The United States, like Israel, blacklists the Iranian-backed Hezbollah as a terrorist group. Most European governments maintain contacts with its political wing.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said last month that the militia was ready for any confrontation with Israel, but at the same time ruled out any war in the near future.

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