BEIRUT: Israel bombed southern Lebanon after being targeted by rockets fired from there on Thursday, the National News Agency reported, without reporting any human loss.
According to the report, Israel’s artillery fired shells from its positions on the border towards the outskirts of 2 villages after the launch of Katyusha-type rockets at Israel.
The Israeli army said that it intercepted rocket fire from Lebanon after clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians inside the third-holiest site of Islam, the Al-Aqsa Mosque drew retaliation warnings from around the region.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which came amid heightened tensions following Israeli police clash with Palestinians inside the mosque before dawn Wednesday and again in the evening.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was receiving regular updates about the situation and will conduct an assessment with the chiefs of the security establishment, his office said.
Emergency services reported one person had been lightly injured by shrapnel, and a female was wounded while running to the shelter.
Warning sirens after rockets
Warning sirens sounded in the Shlomi town, Moshav Betzet and Galilee in northern Israel, the army said.
A ministry spokesman said Yoav Gallant, Defence Minister, had been briefed on the situation on Israel’s northern border.
He said that the minister would soon conduct a situation assessment with key senior officials in the defence department.
Armed police in riot gear stormed Al-Aqsa mosque’s prayer hall before dawn on Wednesday, aiming to dislodge “masked agitators and law-breaking youths” they said had barricaded themselves inside.
During both the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover, the violence sparked an exchange of rockets and air attacks with militants in the Gaza Strip, with worries of further escalation.
Lebanon’s pro-Iranian armed movement Hezbollah warned on Thursday that it would support all steps Palestinian outfits may take against Israel after the clashes.
It said in a statement that Hezbollah forcefully denounced the attack carried out by the Israeli occupation troops against the Al-Aqsa mosque compound and its strikes on the faithful.
Hezbollah, an arch-enemy of Israel, has close relations with the Islamist movement Hamas, which rules Gaza, and with the Islamic Jihad militant outfit, which is also based in the enclave.
