Jerusalem: Two rockets launched from Lebanon on Wednesday struck Israel, which responded with cannon fire amid heightened regional tensions over an alleged Iranian attack on an oiler within the Gulf last week.
Israel’s Star of David Adom national ambulance service said there have been no casualties on the Israeli side of the hilly frontier, where the rockets ignited a fire .
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket strike, launched from a neighborhood of south Lebanon under the sway of Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas.
In a statement, Israel’s military said three rockets were fired from Lebanon, with one falling in need of the Israeli border and therefore the others striking inside Israel. Witnesses in Lebanon also reported that several rockets were fired at Israel.
“In response, (Israeli) artillery forces attacked Lebanese territory,” the military said. Some two hours after the initial shelling, the military said its artillery had fired again at targets, which it didn’t identify, along the frontier.
The Lebanese army said Israeli retaliatory attacks, which extended to many villages in south Lebanon, had led to a fireplace within the town of Rashaya al-Fokh. it had been investigating to seek out out who had fired the rockets from Lebanon.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said its Head of Mission and Force Commander, Major General Stefano Del Col, was in touch with both parties.
“He urged them to cease fire and to exercise maximum restraint to avoid further escalation, especially on this solemn anniversary,” the statement said, pertaining to the Beirut port explosion on Aug. 4 last year.
The border has been mostly quiet since Israel fought a 2006 war against Hezbollah, which has advanced rockets.
But small Palestinian factions in Lebanon have fired sporadically on Israel within the past, and two rockets were launched at Israel on July 20, causing no damage or injuries. Israel skilled that incident with cannon fire .
The latest border incidents occurred after an attack last Thursday, which Israel blamed on Iran, on a tanker off the coast of Oman. Two crew members, a Briton and a Romanian, were killed. Iran has denied any involvement.
Briefing a gathering of ambassadors from U.N. Security Council countries to Israel on Wednesday, Defence Minister Benny Gantz said: “It is time for diplomatic, economic and even military deeds (against Iran) – otherwise the attacks will continue.”
On Tuesday, Britain, Romania and Liberia told the United Nations Security Council it had been “highly likely” that Iran used one or more drones to strike the vessel.
The us and Britain said on Sunday they might work with their allies to reply to the attack. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Tuesday that Israel was keeping open the choice of acting alone against Iran if necessary.
