The Lebanese army announced on Thursday that it had discovered and dismantled rocket launching pads in southern Lebanon, after several projectiles were fired from this region at Israel.
According to the Israeli army, a total of 34 rockets were fired from Lebanon, five of which landed in Israel, injuring one person, and 25 were intercepted by air defense.
“Extremely serious” situation
In a statement, the Lebanese army said that "
several rockets were fired from the vicinity of the localities of Qlailé, Zebqine and Maaliyé
" in the south of the country towards Israel.
She added that she "
discovered and dismantled rocket launching pads
" which contained several projectiles ready to be launched, near the first two localities.
"
The army is patrolling the area, in close coordination with the United Nations Interim Force (UNIFIL)
," she added.
UNIFIL, deployed in southern Lebanon to buffer between this country and Israel, considered that the situation was “
extremely serious
”, calling in a press release “
for restraint and to avoid further escalation
”.
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry assured that Lebanon wanted to preserve "
calm and stability
" in the south, and called on the international community to "
put pressure on Israel to stop the escalation
".
According to the National News Agency (ANI, official), Israeli artillery fired "
several shells from its positions on the border
" on the outskirts of two villages in southern Lebanon, after the launch of "
several rockets of the type Katyusha
” on Israel.
Asked by AFP shortly after 1:00 p.m. Paris time, an Israeli military spokesman said the army had not responded "
so far
".
A resident of Qlailé told AFP that he "
heard more than fifteen rockets being fired from the outskirts of the village
", before the Israeli army responded by bombarding the area.
"To ignite the region"
These are the largest rocket attacks from southern Lebanon into Israel since the 2006 war between pro-Iranian Hezbollah and Israel.
The rocket attacks, which were not claimed at first, came after violence in the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, where the Israeli police intervened to violently dislodge Palestinian worshipers.
Hezbollah, a powerful pro-Iranian movement in Lebanon with a strong presence in the south of this country, announced in the morning that it supported “
all the measures
” that the Palestinian organizations would take against Israel, after the violence in Al-Aqsa.
In a statement reported Thursday afternoon by the Hezbollah channel, Al-Manar, one of the main leaders of this formation, Hashem Safieddine, warned Israel.
"
If the Zionists think they can defile the Al-Aqsa Mosque, they must understand (..) that it could set the whole region on fire
," he said.
"
Hundreds of millions of Muslims are still ready to give blood for Al-Aqsa
", the third holiest site in Islam, he added.
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The latest incident between Lebanon and Israel dates back to April 25, 2022, when a rocket was fired from southern Lebanon into northern Israel, resulting in Israeli retaliatory fire.
Hezbollah, Israel's nemesis, maintains good relations with the Palestinian movement Hamas, in power in Gaza, and with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
In 2006, the last major confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah left more than 1,200 dead on the Lebanese side, mostly civilians, and 160 on the Israeli side, mostly soldiers.