JERUSALEM: Israeli jets struck what its military said were rocket launch sites in Lebanon early on Thursday in response to two rockets fired towards Israel from Lebanese territory, in an escalation of cross-border hostilities amid heightened tensions.
The rockets launched from Lebanon on Wednesday struck open areas in northern Israel, causing brush fires along the hilly frontier. There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, which came from an area of south Lebanon under the sway of Hizbullah guerrillas.
Israel responded with several rounds of artillery fire on Wednesday before launching airstrikes early on Thursday, the military said.
“(Military) fighter jets struck the launch sites and infrastructure used for terror in Lebanon from which the rockets were launched,” the military said in a statement.
The military also struck an area that had seen rocket launches in the past, it added.
Hizbullah’s Al Manar TV said that Israeli warplanes had carried out two raids on the outskirts of the Lebanese town of Mahmudiya, about 12 km from the Israeli border. There were no reports of casualties.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun said Israel’s airstrikes were the first targeting Lebanese villages since 2006 and showed an escalation in its “aggressive intent” towards his country.
Aoun also said in a tweet the strikes were a direct threat to the security and stability of southern Lebanon and violated UN Security Council resolutions.
Speaking to Israel’s YNet TV, Defence Minister Benny Gantz said: “This was an attack meant to send a message... Clearly we could do much more, and we hope we won’t arrive at that.”
Gantz said he believed a Palestinian faction had launched the rockets. Small Palestinian factions in Lebanon have fired sporadically on Israel in the past.
The border has been mostly quiet since Israel fought a 2006 war against Hizbullah, which has advanced rockets. Israeli aircraft struck Hizbullah posts in the border area last summer. Israel says its aircraft last struck inside Lebanon in 2014, though Al Manar TV reported one such strike in 2015.
This week’s cross-border fire came after a suspected drone attack last Thursday on a tanker off the coast of Oman that Israel, the United States and Britain blamed on others. Two crew members, a Briton and a Romanian, were killed.
The United States and Britain said on Sunday they would work with their allies to respond to the attack. Israel says it is keeping the option open of acting alone if necessary.
The exchange came as thousands of grief-stricken Lebanese marked the first anniversary of a devastating explosion in Beirut port that killed at least 214 people and irreparably scarred the nation’s psyche.
The then government resigned in the face of a wave of popular anger but a year later, despite a worsening economic meltdown, no replacement administration has been formed.
Israel has warned repeatedly that it will not allow the power vacuum in Beirut to undermine security on its northern border.
The military said it “views the state of Lebanon as responsible for all actions originating in its territory, and warns against further attempts to harm Israeli civilians and Israel’s sovereignty.” — Reuters
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