Israel strikes areas in southern Lebanon
Israeli forces fired dozens of artillery shells into southern Lebanon, after a rocket was launched over the border from Lebanon into an open area across the border.
According to Lebanese media, UN peacekeeping forces (UNIFIL) in the country’s south sounded sirens along several of its positions near the border, while the Lebanese Army deployed troops.
An Israeli military spokesperson tweeted that artillery forces bombarded open areas in southern Lebanon where the rocket came from, as well as an infrastructural target.
UNIFIL Head of Mission Commander Aroldo Lázaro called for “calm and restraint” in a tweet.
No injuries or casualties have been reported on either side of the border.
It was not clear which group in Lebanon was behind the rocket attack.
The incident takes place as tensions have flared in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem in recent weeks after Israeli forces raided Al-Aqsa compound – Islam’s third holiest site – several times during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan triggering protests across Palestinian territories, including besieged Gaza.
In the last two weeks 16 Palestinians and three Israelis have been killed.
Israeli warplanes carried out attacks in Gaza Strip twice last week after a rocket was fired from the besieged enclave, which has been under an Israeli-imposed land, sea and air blockade since 2007.
