BEIRUT: Two rockets were fired from southern Lebanon toward northern Israel yesterday, triggering an Israeli response and raising fears of renewed hostilities on the tense Lebanese-Israeli border. Lebanese leaders hastened to condemn the rocket attack and vowed not to allow southern Lebanon to become a rocket launching pad against Israel.
The brief cross-border exchange was the third this year and highlighted tensions along the border. Israel and Hezbollah fought a 34-day war in the region in the summer of 2006. More than 1,200 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and 159 in Israel, died during the conflict.
It was not immediately known who fired the two rockets yesterday, and no group accepted responsibility.
One rocket slammed into a mostly Christian Arab village, causing minor injuries to three people.
Lebanese security officials said the rockets were fired from the Mansouri and Al-Qulaila areas near the coastal town of Naqoura. Officials with the United Nations peacekeeping mission in south Lebanon said the second rocket fell short, landing in Lebanon.
According to Lebanese security officials, Israel responded by firing at least six shells on villages in the area where the rockets had been launched. No injuries were reported.
Lebanese President Michel Suleiman condemned the attack, saying he would not allow south Lebanon to become “a rocket launching pad” against Israel. In a statement released by his office, Suleiman said the firing of rockets on Israel posed “a challenge” to the Lebanese government.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said in a statement that the rockets fired from south Lebanon “threatened security and stability” in the region and violated a UN resolution that ended the Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006. He also called Israel’s retaliation “an unjustified violation of Lebanese sovereignty.”
The Israeli military said the Lebanese government and military were responsible for preventing such attacks.
Siniora called on the army and UN peacekeepers to step up patrols and coordination in order to prevent such incidents in the future.
The head of the 13,000-strong UN peacekeeping force deployed along with Lebanese troops along the border, Maj. Gen. Claudio Graziano, contacted senior military commanders in Lebanon and Israel and called for “maximum restraint” following the incident.
Troops from the UN force, known as UNIFIL, and the Lebanese Army located the rocket launch site and are continuing intensive patrols throughout the area, according to a UNIFIL statement.
Hezbollah officials refused to comment on yesterday’s attack. But local television stations reported that Hezbollah denied it was responsible for the rocket firing.
