Three rockets fired from Lebanon hit Israel, military officials say
A fourth was intercepted by the nation’s ‘Iron Dome’ missile defence system
JERUSALEM Militants in Lebanon fired four rockets into Israel on Thursday, setting off air raid sirens and startling a nation already on edge over turmoil along its northern and southern borders.
Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a military spokesman, said three rockets landed in northern Israel, while a fourth was intercepted by Israel’s “Iron Dome” rocket defence system. No one was injured, and the military dismissed the attack as an “isolated incident.”
Still, the rockets added to the nation’s fears at a time it is nervously watching unrest in neighbouring Syria, where the government has been accused of using chemical weapons against rebels and civilians this week. It’s also worried about Egypt to the south, where Islamic militants have stepped up their activities near the Israeli border in the wake of a military coup.
“We are acting on all fronts, in the north and in the south, to defend the citizens of Israel from such attacks,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a videotaped statement.
“We employ various measures, both defensive and preventive, and we are acting responsibly,” he added. “Our policy is clear: to protect and to prevent. Whoever tries to harm us should know we will harm them.”
Lerner, the military spokesman, said the rockets were fired from a location south of the Lebanese port city of Tyre. He said two rockets landed in populated areas, while a third landed in an open field.
Israel’s Channel 10 TV showed pictures from Gesher Haziv, a communal farm near the Lebanese border, of a large rocket fragment lying on the ground near a white car with shattered windows and flat tires and pocked with shrapnel holes in its side. Security men cleaned up rocket fragments from the ground.
Lerner said the attack was an “unprovoked attack on Israeli citizens” but that Israel did not retaliate.
He blamed “global jihad” elements for the attack, a term Israel uses when referring to groups either linked to or inspired by al-Qaida. Israel blamed the same elements for a rocket attack last week against the southern port city of Eilat. Those groups are active in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, which neighbours Eilat.
The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, an al-Qaida-inspired group based in Lebanon, claimed responsibility for the attack in a post on the Twitter account of Sirajuddin Zurayqat, a prominent Islamic militant leader. Zurayqat said the rockets were capable of flying 40 kilometres, putting the Israeli city of Haifa in its range.
The group, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., has claimed responsibility for past rocket attacks on Israel.
South Lebanon was the scene of bitter fighting between Israel and Lebanese militant Hezbollah guerrillas in 2006 and is considered a Hezbollah stronghold. Palestinian radical groups and Islamic militants in the area could also provoke a border incident, with radical Palestinian groups claiming responsibility for several past actions.
That summer war broke out after the Iranian-backed militant group’s guerrillas crossed into Israel and captured two Israeli soldiers. The conflict killed about 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis.