4 rockets fired at Israel from Tyre , Lebanon

Four rockets were fired from Lebanon towards northern Israel on Thursday, Lebanese and Israeli officials said.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency said the rockets were fired from the Lebanese city of Tyre.

Israel’s Army Radio reported that one of the rockets was deflected in flight by the country’s “Iron Dome” anti-missile system.

At least three rockets landed in unpopulated areas, causing no casualties or damage, Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri told Bloomberg News.

Air raid sirens were triggered in northern towns, including Nahariya and Kiryat Shemona, and residents said they heard explosions.

“I heard a weak explosion, and then in parallel to the siren, I heard a stronger boom,” Keinan Engel, who lives in Nahariya, told Army Radio, according to Reuters. “I went to take cover, in a reinforced room.”

While no group has yet claimed responsibility for the rockets, southern Lebanon is a stronghold of the Shiite Islamist movement Hezbollah, and militant groups have sent rockets into Israel in the past. Rockets fired from Lebanon last struck Israel in November 2011.

violation of Lebanese sovereignty
President Michel Suleiman on Thursday condemned the firing of rockets from Lebanon at Israel as a “violation of Resolution 1701 and Lebanese sovereignty.”

The president called on the relevant authorities to “unveil the perpetrators and refer them to the judiciary.”

Also caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the rocket attack was a “clear attempt to disrupt the security situation in the South and turn Lebanon again into an arena for settling scores and sending messages in one direction or another.”

“The Lebanese government condemns the incident and considers it a blatant violation of UNSCR 1701,” Mikati added.

AFP