Terrorists in Lebanon fired a heavy barrage of rockets at Israel on Thursday, the Israeli military said, forcing people across Israel’s northern frontier into bomb shelters, wounding at least two people. Israel’s military said 34 rockets had been fired across the border, and that 25 were shot down by its Iron Dome aerial defense system. Another five rockets struck Israeli territory and the rest of the strikes were being investigated, security forces added. The army’s response would come after “a situational assessment” and meeting by Israel’s Security Cabinet later Thursday, it said. The unusually large salvo of rockets raised fears of a wider conflagration, as Israel’s bitter enemy, the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, holds sway over much of southern Lebanon. Over the past two days, tensions have skyrocketed at the sacred compound home to the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and along Israel’s tense border with Gaza. In a briefing with reporters, Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli military spokesman, said the army drew a clear connection between the rocket fire and the recent unrest in Jerusalem. “It’s a Palestinian-oriented event,” he said, adding that either the Hamas or Islamic Jihad militant groups could be involved. But he said the army believed that Hezbollah and the Lebanese government were aware of what happened and also held responsibility. He declined to say how Israel might respond, saying there were “all sorts of scenarios.” Earlier on Thursday and late Wednesday night, Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired several rockets toward Israel in protest after Israeli police stormed into the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City with tear gas and stun grenades to evacuate Arabs who had barricaded themselves inside. On Thursday, Hezbollah condemned Israel’s storming of Al-Aqsa, calling it “a flagrant violation”. No faction in Lebanon claimed responsibility for the salvo of rockets, which set off air raid sirens across the country’s north. A Lebanese security official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media, said the country’s security forces believed the rockets were launched by a Lebanon-based Palestinian militant group, not by Hezbollah militants. The official said there were no casualties on the Lebanese side. A spokesperson for Hezbollah did not respond to a request for comment. Both Israel and Hezbollah have avoided an all-out conflict since their 34-day war in 2006 ended with a draw. Tensions have simmered along the Lebanese border as Israel appears to have ratcheted up its shadow war against Iranian-linked targets in Syria, another close ally of Iran, Israel’s archenemy in the region. Suspected Israeli airstrikes in Syria in recent weeks have killed two Iranian military advisers and temporarily put the country’s two largest airports out of service. Hecht said Thursday’s rocket fire was not believed to be connected to events in Syria. In Washington, Principal Deputy State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said “Israel has legitimate security concerns and has every right to defend themselves. “ But he also urged calm in Jerusalem. “We emphasize the importance of upholding the historic status quo at the holy sites in Jerusalem and any unilateral action that jeopardizes the status quo to us is unacceptable,” he said. In Israel, Thursday’s rocket fire from Lebanon sent shrapnel flying that wounded at least two people, according to the Galilee Medical […]
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