Rockets from Lebanon fired at northern Israel; no casualties

Filed under: Irrational Violence, Provocation / Incitement, Wars and Rumors of War, Weaponry / Armament, World News — Leave a comment

August 23, 2013

Israeli police explosive experts survey the scene next to the remnants of a rocket in Kibbutz Gesher HaZiv, near the northern city of Nahariya August 22, 2013. REUTERS-Ronen Zvulun

By Jeffrey Heller

JERUSALEM | Thu Aug 22, 2013 4:50pm EDT

(Reuters) – A rare rocket barrage from Lebanon on Thursday deepened Israeli concern that al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants are opening a new front for confrontation with Israel.

The Israeli military said four rockets were fired from southern Lebanon. Two struck Israeli communities without causing casualties, a third was intercepted by the “Iron Dome” missile shield and the fourth fell outside Israeli territory, it said.

A U.S.-based group which monitors Islamist militants said the Brigades of Abdullah Azzam, an organization linked to al Qaeda, claimed credit for the rocket attack.

“A group official, Sirajuddin Zurayqat, who has appeared in prior releases from the Brigades, posted on his Twitter account that its Ziad Jarrah Battalions is ‘behind the firing of the four rockets’,” the SITE monitoring group said.

Israel launches air strikes in Lebanon in response to rocket attack

Gunmen from the Palestinian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, stand outside their base, where Israeli warplanes attacked one of their tunnel entrances, near the Mediterranean coastal town of Naameh, south of Beirut, Lebanon, Aug, 23, 2013. / AP

BEIRUT Israeli warplanes struck a target south of Beirut early Friday, a day after militants fired four rockets into northern Israel, the Israeli military and a Palestinian official said.

The Israeli military said Friday that Israeli warplanes targeted “a terror site located between Beirut and Sidon in response” to the rocket attack. It was the first air raid on the area since the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group.

Ramez Mustafa, a Lebanon-based official with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, said the raid occurred at 4 a.m. and caused no casualties or material damage.

He said the warplanes struck the coastal town of Naameh, 10 miles south of Beirut. The Palestinian group is active in the area and has a base there.

An Associated Press photographer in Naameh said the raid targeted a PFLP-GC base in a valley in the town. Lebanese troops in the area prevented journalists from reaching the base.