Militias in Lebanon Fire Rockets Into Israel, Raising Fears of Broader Conflict
The Israeli military blamed Palestinian exiles in Lebanon for what appeared to be a retaliatory attack over Israel’s raid of a mosque at a Jerusalem holy site one day earlier.
Armed groups in Lebanon fired a heavy barrage of rockets toward Israel on Thursday in an unusual and major escalation that the Israeli military blamed on militias run by Palestinian exiles in Lebanon.
The attack appeared to be in response to an Israeli police raid on a mosque early Wednesday at a sensitive holy site in Jerusalem. The raid prompted widespread anger among Palestinians and an earlier burst of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
The police action and the rocket strike came as Jews were celebrating the holiday of Passover and Muslims were in the middle of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Military experts said the barrage on Thursday was the heaviest in northern Israel since 2006, when Israel and Hezbollah last fought a full-scale war. Israel did not retaliate immediately, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with senior ministers and military leaders to discuss how to respond.
Amid fears of a wider conflagration, municipal council leaders across Israel announced that they were opening public bomb shelters.
“Our enemies must not misjudge us,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a video statement before holding an emergency cabinet meeting later in the night. He said, “We will strike our enemies and they will pay a price for every act of aggression.”
At least 34 rockets were fired in the attack, of which 25 were intercepted by Israeli air-defense systems and six landed in Israeli territory, according to the Israeli military. Several hours later, Lebanese media later reported a short second burst over northeastern Israel.
A spokesman for the Israeli military said it suspected that branches of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the two main militias in Gaza that also have a presence in Lebanon, were involved in the rocket fire from Lebanon. The Israeli military also said it believed that the militias had acted with the knowledge of Hezbollah, the militia and political movement that dominates southern Lebanon.
None of the groups — all which are backed by Iran — has claimed responsibility for the barrage. A spokesman for Hamas declined to comment, a spokesman for Islamic Jihad did not reply to a request for comment, while a media outlet run by Hezbollah said the source of the rockets was unknown.
The Lebanese prime minister, Najib Mikati, whose government has only limited influence over southern Lebanon, condemned the rocket fire.
Hamas’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh, visited Lebanon this week, adding to speculation about the group’s involvement in the rocket fire. After the attack Thursday, its spokesmen continued to condemn the Israeli raid on Wednesday on the Aqsa mosque compound, known to Jews as Temple Mount.