Bassem Mroue & Kareem Chehayeb
AP / July 6, 2023
BEIRUT – Israeli forces shelled a southern Lebanese border village on Thursday after several explosions were heard in a ‘disputed’ area where the borders of Syria, Lebanon and Israel meet.
Tensions continue to flare in the border area over two tents erected by the militant group Hezbollah and Israel’s building of a wall around the Lebanese part of a village that Israeli troops captured during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.
A Lebanese military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of not being cleared to provide information to journalists said one rocket was fired toward Israel from the border town of Kfar Chouba and that Israeli forces responded with two rocket attacks.
The Israeli Defense Forces first said no explosion took place in its territory and only on the Lebanese side of the border near Ghajar. Minutes later, it said a Lebanese rocket landed in Israeli territory near the border and that Israeli forces had since shelled parts of Kfar Chouba.
It was unclear who fired the rocket from Lebanon. The Lebanese army did not immediately commented on the explosions.
The UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, said it could not verify that rocket fire caused the explosion but that the sounds were “consistent with a possible launch.” UNIFIL sent peacekeepers to investigate what happened while the head of the mission speaks to both Lebanese and Israeli authorities to ease the situation.
“This incident comes at a sensitive time and in an area that has already experienced tensions earlier this week,” UNIFIL said in a statement. “We urge everyone to exercise restraint and avoid any action that could cause further escalation.”
Minutes after the explosions, Iran-backed Hezbollah issued a statement about Israel’s wall in the village of Ghajar. The village is split into Lebanese and Israeli sides along a border known as the blue line that was demarcated after Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000.
“It is not just a routine breach of what the occupation forces are accustomed to from time to time,” the statement said. It did comment on the explosions.
As part of the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel is to withdraw from the northern part of Ghajar, which has not happened. U.N. peacekeeping forces in Lebanon have called on Israel for years to end its building work in northern Ghajar and to withdraw its troops.
Lebanese soldiers in Mays al-Jabal, another border town, obstructed an Israeli bulldozer accompanied by Israeli soldiers on Wednesday that reached over the technical fence to remove plants and trees from the Lebanese side. The tense standoff did not result in any clashes.
The situation also has been heated along Chebaa Farms and around Kfar Chouba. Israel captured those areas from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war, and they are part of Syria’s Golan Heights that Israel annexed in 1981. The Lebanese government says the area belongs to Lebanon.
In early June, Israel filed a complaint with the U.N. saying that Hezbollah had set up tents several dozen meters (yards) inside the disputed territory. Israeli media have since reported that Hezbollah removed one of the two tents, but the group did not confirm the action.
Later that month, Israeli soldiers fired tear gas to disperse scores of Lebanese protesters who pelted the troops with stones along the border near the disputed territory.
Hezbollah also shot down an Israeli drone last month. The group in the past has claimed responsibility for downing Israeli drones, and Israel’s military has said its forces have shot down Hezbollah drones.
Israel considers Hezbollah its most serious immediate threat, estimating it has some 150,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel.
______
Rocket launch at Israel from Lebanon draws Israeli cross-border shelling
Reuters / July 6, 2023
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM – Two rockets were fired from southern Lebanon toward Israel on Thursday, prompting cross-border strikes by the Israeli military, sources on both sides said.
The incident came amid heightened Israeli-Arab tensions after Israel this week conducted one of its largest military incursions in decades in the occupied West Bank, targeting the Jenin camp, a Palestinian militant stronghold.
Three security sources in Lebanon said two rockets were fired toward Israel, one of them landing in Lebanese territory and the second near a disputed area at the border.
After initially saying it had no indications of any unusual incidents on its side of the border, the Israeli military said a projectile had exploded there. There was no word of any damage.
“In response, the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) is currently striking the area from which the launch was carried out in Lebanese territory,” a military statement said.
It added that Israeli communities near the border had not been issued with any special instructions. During major flare-ups, Israel usually orders civilians within range to take cover.
PLUMES OF SMOKE
Reuters witnesses saw plumes of white smoke rising from the hilly south. One resident of Wazzani, the village in southern Lebanon where one of the rockets fell, said artillery fire had hit there from the direction of Israel.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reported some 15 shells fired from Israel had landed in Lebanon.
There was no claim of responsibility for the original reported rocket fire from Lebanon. Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he was following up on the issue with the commander of Lebanon’s army.
The sources in Lebanon said the second rocket had landed near the disputed village of Ghajar, which straddles the Israel-Lebanon border but whose residents profess allegiance to Syria.
Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed Lebanese group that controls southern Lebanon and has fought several wars with Israel, expressed support for the Palestinian cause during this week’s Israeli operation in the West Bank city of Jenin.
Hezbollah did not comment on the reports of rocket fire.
In a separate statement, the armed group condemned what it called “dangerous measures” taken by Israeli forces in the northern part of Ghajar, which Lebanon considers to be its territory.
Hezbollah accused Israel of erecting a wire fence and building a cement wall. Lebanon’s foreign ministry on Tuesday said it was concerned by the moves, saying they were creating a “new reality on the ground”. There was no immediate response from Israel’s military to the Hezbollah accusation.
The United Nations’ peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon urged all sides to show restraint and avoid an escalation after the reported exchange of fire on Thursday given the area had “already experienced tensions earlier this week.”
Israel blamed the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas for firing rockets into Israel from Lebanon in April during another flare-up in Israeli-Palestinian violence. That prompted Israel to hit sites in Lebanon.
Reporting by Laila Bassam, Aziz Taher and Maya Gebeily in Lebanon and Dan Williams in Jerusalem, writing by Ahmed Elimam and Maya Gebeily; editing by Tom Perry, Gareth Jones and Ros Russell
___________
Israel attacks launch site in Lebanon after rockets ‘fired’
Al-Jazeera / July 6, 2023
Security sources say one rocket fired from Lebanon landed in Lebanese territory and the second near a disputed area at the border.
Israeli forces have struck an area of Lebanon from which a cross-border rocket launch was carried, its military said.
The statement said a rocket fired earlier on Thursday from within Lebanon had exploded within Israeli territory.
“In response, the IDF (Israeli military) is currently striking the area from which the launch was carried out in Lebanese territory,” the military statement said.
A previous statement by the military had said there were no preliminary findings of any unusual events on Israel’s side of the border.
Lebanon’s state news agency ANI said Israel had fired “more than 15 artillery shells” which hit around the communities of Kfar Chouba and Halta.
There was no claim of responsibility for the reported rocket fire and no immediate comment from the Lebanese army.
Sources in Lebanon said one rocket landed near the Lebanese border village of Wazzani and a second near the disputed village of Ghajar, which straddles the Israel-Lebanon border but whose residents profess allegiance to Syria.
In a separate incident hours later, a shooting was reported near an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military said. Emergency services said that one person was seriously wounded.
‘Cautious calm’
The United Nations’ peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon urged all sides to show restraint and avoid an escalation after the reported exchange of fire on Thursday given the area had “already experienced tensions earlier this week.”
Al-Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr reporting from the Lebanese capital, Lebanon said a “cautious calm” was holding at the moment.
“We’ve seen this happen quite often really in the past few months. It has now been contained, the Israeli Army said that it shelled the area from which a rocket was launched from southern Lebanon into Israel, yet there is still no confirmation from Lebanon,” Khodr said.
“Both sides really have been careful not to risk a major flare-up. So, when Israel strikes back, they strike back in open areas. When rockets are launched from Lebanon, they avoid casualties. Both sides really have a lot to lose if there is a major escalation,” she added.
Reporting from West Jerusalem, Al-Jazeera’s Imran Khan said the Israeli shelling hit an empty field.
“These were short-range mortars, not very powerful, and likely to be much more of a message than trying to strike anything,” he added.
The rocket fire came after Israel concluded one of its largest military operations in years in the occupied West Bank in the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin.
Hezbollah, the powerful, Iran-backed Lebanese group that controls southern Lebanon and has fought several wars with Israel, expressed support for the Palestinian cause during the Israeli operation.
Hezbollah did not comment on the reports of rocket fire.
In a separate statement, the armed group condemned what it called “dangerous measures” taken by Israeli forces in the northern part of Ghajar, which Lebanon considers its. Hezbollah accused Israel of erecting a wire fence and building a cement wall.
Lebanon’s foreign ministry on Tuesday said it was concerned by the moves, saying they were creating a “new reality on the ground”. There was no immediate response from Israel’s military to the Hezbollah accusation.
Israel blamed the Palestinian group Hamas for firing rockets into Israel from Lebanon in April. That led to Israel hitting sites in Lebanon.
SOURCE: AL-JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
