Israel shells Lebanon after rocket strike
BEIRUT — The Hezbollah militant group fired a barrage of rockets toward Israel on Friday, and Israel hit back with artillery in a significant escalation of fighting.
It was the third day of attacks along the border with Lebanon, a major Middle East flash point where tensions between Israel and Iran, which backs Hezbollah, occasionally play out. But comments by Israeli officials and Hezbollah’s actions suggested the two were seeking to avoid a major conflict.
Israel said it fired back after 19 rockets were launched from Lebanon, and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett swiftly convened a meeting with the country’s top defense officials. No casualties were reported.
“We do not wish to escalate to a full war, yet of course we are very prepared for that,” said Lt. Col. Amnon Shefler, spokesman for the Israel military.
Israel has long considered Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon, its most serious and immediate military threat. Friday’s exchanges came a day after Israel’s defense minister warned that his country is prepared to strike Iran after a fatal drone strike on an oil tanker at sea that his country blamed on Tehran.
Israel’s new governing coalition is already trying to keep the peace on another border under a fragile cease-fire that ended an 11-day conflict with Hamas’ militant rulers in Gaza.
Sirens blared across the Golan Heights and Upper Galilee near the Lebanon border Friday morning. Hezbollah said in a statement that it hit “open fields” in the disputed Shebaa farms area.
The group said it fired 10 rockets, calling it retaliation for Israeli airstrikes the day before. Israel said those strikes were in response to rocket fire from southern Lebanon in recent days that was not claimed by any group.
Shebaa Farms is an enclave where the borders of Israel, Lebanon and Syria meet. Israel says it is part of the Golan Heights, which it captured from Syria in 1967. Lebanon and Syria say Shebaa Farms belongs to Lebanon, while the United Nations says the area is part of Syria.
“This is a very serious situation and we urge all parties to cease fire,” the U.N. force in Lebanon said.
Hezbollah’s decision to strike open fields in a disputed area rather than Israel proper appeared calibrated to limit any response.
Shefler, the Israeli military spokesman, told reporters Friday that three of the 19 rockets fired fell within Lebanese territory. Ten were intercepted by the defense system known as the Iron Dome.
Israel has repeatedly threatened to attack Lebanese border villages where it accuses Hezbollah of hiding rockets.
The attack sparked tensions between Lebanese locals and Hezbollah. Videos on social media after the rocket attack showed two vehicles, including a mobile rocket launcher, being stopped by residents of Shwaya village. The windshield of one vehicle was smashed.
Some of the villagers could be heard saying: “Hezbollah is firing rockets from between homes so that Israel hits us back.”