IDF fires on Lebanon after 4 rockets land in North
By YAAKOV LAPPIN, YAAKOV KATZ AND JPOST.COM STAFF
11/29/2011 02:02
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=247355
Projectiles land in Western Galilee; some damage, none injured; IDF believes terror group other than Hezbollah responsible.
IDF artillery cannons pounded Lebanese targets early Tuesday morning in response to four Katyusha rockets fired into northern Israel.
Four 122 millimeter rockets fired from within Lebanon, just north of the border, landed in the Western Galilee shortly after midnight. No injuries were reported in the attacks.
The rockets landed close to the Lebanese border , causing some damage to a chicken coop and a gas tank. Firefighting crews were called in to cool down a propane gas tank that was struck.
A Lebanese army spokesperson told AFP Tuesday morning that one rocket was fired from southern Lebanon at Israel overnight Monday.
Israel Radio reported that UNIFIL forces were conducting patrols along the village of Aita al-Shaab, where IDF artillery shells landed in response to the attack.
Police were searching for the fourth rocket in the Western Galilee after residents reported hearing an explosion in the area.
The IDF said in a statement that it views the rocket attacks as a severe incident and it holds the Lebanese government and the Lebanese military responsible for preventing such actions.
The IDF Northern Command has gone on full alert and is holding continuous evaluation in light of the events, the statement added.
The Western Galilee was a target of Hezbollah rocket attacks during the 2006 Lebanon War, but the front has been largely quiet for the past several years. A small number of isolated rocket attacks struck northern Israel in the years following the Second Lebanon War, but no attacks have been reported in the last two years.
The IDF assessment is that it is not Hezbollah, but rather al-Qaida or Palestinian terror groups who operate inside Lebanon that were behind the rocket fire, as has been the case in the past with isolated attacks.
The IDF planned to file an official complaint with UNIFIL over the attacks.
The IDF has confirmed that there was not an explosion near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre last week, as opposed to media reports claiming that a blast had occurred.The reports had claimed that a Hezbollah weapons cache had exploded in the area, but the IDF sent a drone over the village which did not detect any indication of an explosion.
The IDF in the past has used footage taken by drones to disseminate to the media information about Hezbollah's continued violations of UN Resolution 1701 and its continued military buildup in the area.
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