Rockets fired into Israel from Lebanon

January 8, 2009

At least four Katyusha rockets were fired into northern Israel from Lebanon, injuring at least five people. The rockets landed just six miles from the Israel-Lebanon border in the Israeli city of Nahariya.

Following the attack, the Israeli military fired at least five mortars into Lebanon in an attempt to take out the launch site. No one was injured. So far no group or individuals have claimed responsibility for firing the rockets. Some news reports speculate that the rockets may have been fired by Hezbollah, but PressTV reports that Hezbollah was not responsible for Thursday's attack.

Ynetnews says that the rockets were fired by Palestinians, but Hamas, the Palestinian leadership who Israeli is currently engaged in a war with, says that they are not responsible for the attacks. Hezbollah has also denied being responsible for the attack.

"We cannot blame any Palestinian faction and we don't know who fired the rockets," said Raafat Morra, a Hamas spokesperson as quoted by the Straits Times who quotes AFP. "Hamas is pursuing its combat inside Palestine and our principle is not to use any other Arab soil to respond to the occupation."

PressTV also states that Israeli warplanes have began to fly over Southern Lebanon.

In 2006, Israel bombed targets inside Lebanon after Hezbollah attacked Israeli army patrols and captured two Israeli soldiers in a mission Hezbollah called "Truthful Promise". Hezbollah had fired nearly 4,000 rockets into Northern Israel prior to kidnapping the soldiers. The conflict lasted nearly 40 days.

The leader of Hezbollah, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said on January 7 that any attempt at another war with Lebanon "would be nothing compared to what we [Hezbollah] have in store for them [Israel]."

As a result of Thursday's attack, Israel says that they will attack Lebanon with the same style of attacks that are being forced onto the country.