The Israeli army said it intercepted rocket fire from Lebanon Thursday after Israeli police brutally attacked and arrested Palestinian worshippers inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site, drew warnings of retaliation from around the region.
34 rockets were fired from Lebanon, 25 were intercepted, and at least 5 hits Israeli territory.”
the Israeli army said.
Sources close to Hezbollah meanwhile told Al-Arabiya TV that “Palestinian factions are behind the firing of rockets” and that Hezbollah was not involved in the incident. We would not respond to any Israeli action in this manner, the source said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came amid heightened tensions after Israeli police clashed with Palestinians inside Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque before dawn Wednesday and again in the evening.
Lebanese security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media said the rockets had been fired from the area of a Palestinian refugee camp — suggesting that the rockets had been fired by Palestinian militants based in Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “receiving continuous updates about the security situation and will conduct an assessment with the heads of the security establishment,” his office said. A meeting of Israel’s security cabinet was also scheduled for later Thursday.
The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad hailed the rockets as a heroic operation against the Israeli crimes in the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The leader of the Palestinian Hamas group that rules Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, arrived in Beirut on Wednesday, Lebanese state media reported.
Israeli emergency services reported a man had been lightly wounded by shrapnel and a female was injured while running to the shelter. Warning sirens sounded in the town of Shlomi and Moshav Betzet and the Galilee in northern Israel, the army said.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had been briefed on the details of the events on Israel’s northern border, a ministry spokesman said. The minister will soon conduct a situation assessment with senior officials in the defense establishment, it added
And as Israel’s foreign minister said that Israel “will take all measures to protect its security,” security sources told Israel’s Channel 12 that there will be no “war against Lebanon” while confirming that Israel will “retaliate.”
Armed police in riot gear stormed the prayer hall of Al-Aqsa mosque before dawn Wednesday, aiming to dislodge “law-breaking youths and masked agitators” they said had barricaded themselves inside.
The violence, during both the Jewish Passover and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, sparked an exchange of rockets and air strikes with militants in the Gaza Strip, with fears of further escalation.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah warned earlier Thursday it would support “all measures” Palestinian groups may take against Israel after the clashes.
Hezbollah forcefully denounces the assault carried out by the Israeli occupation forces against the Al-Aqsa mosque compound and its attacks on the faithful.”
Hezbollah said in a statement.
Hezbollah, an arch-foe of Israel, has close ties with the Islamist movement Hamas, which rules Gaza, and with the Islamic Jihad militant group, which is also based in the coastal enclave.
The last rocket fired from Lebanon into Israel was in April 2022.
Security incidents occur from time to time in the border area between Lebanon and Israel, which is guarded by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon
