Israel Fires at South Lebanon in Response to Rocket Launches: Israeli Military

Israel Fires at South Lebanon in Response to Rocket Launches: Israeli Military
An Israeli artillery unit fires toward targets in Gaza Strip, at the Israeli Gaza border, on May 18, 2021. (Tsafrir Abayov/AP Photo)
Reuters
5/19/2021
Updated:
5/19/2021

TEL AVIV—Israel fired artillery at targets in Lebanon on Wednesday after four rockets were launched toward Israel from Lebanese territory, the Israeli military said.

Israel’s missile defenses intercepted one of the projectiles and “the rest most likely fell in open areas,” the military said. The rockets caused air raid sirens to blare in the northern Israeli city of Haifa and areas to the east.

Security sources in Lebanon confirmed that four rockets had been launched towards Israel from Seddiqine, a village in the region of Lebanon’s southern coastal city of Tyre.

It was not immediately clear who had fired the rockets, and there were no reports of damage on either side.

An Israeli soldier inspects damage to an apartment in a residential building after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashdod, southern Israel, on May 17, 2021. (Maya Alleruzzo/AP Photo)
An Israeli soldier inspects damage to an apartment in a residential building after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashdod, southern Israel, on May 17, 2021. (Maya Alleruzzo/AP Photo)

It was the third incident of rocket fire from Lebanon since hostilities between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza flared up on May 10.

On Monday, six shells were fired from Lebanon towards northern Israel but fell short of the border, drawing retaliatory Israeli artillery fire. Three rockets launched towards Israel on Thursday landed in the Mediterranean Sea, causing no damage or casualties.

Israel fought a war in 2006 against Hezbollah guerrillas, who have sway in southern Lebanon and access to advanced rockets. The border has been mostly quiet since then.

Small Palestinian factions in Lebanon have fired on Israel sporadically in the past.

By Rami Ayyub