The Israeli-Lebanese front flared up like never since 2006 this Thursday, April 6 with the firing of around thirty rockets from Lebanon which injured one person and caused material damage in Israel on the day of Jewish Passover.
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This outburst of violence comes the day after the brutal irruption, in the middle of Ramadan, of the Israeli police in the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, the third holiest site in Islam, to which several Palestinian groups have promised a response.
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Israel and Lebanon remain technically in a state of war after various conflicts, and the ceasefire line is monitored by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), deployed in southern Lebanon to ensure that peace is maintained. truce between the two countries. Judging “the current situation (…) extremely serious”UNIFIL has launched an appeal “to restraint and avoid further escalation”.
No claims of shots
According to ANI, the official Lebanese agency, Israeli artillery fired “several shells from its positions on the border” on the outskirts of two villages in southern Lebanon, after the launch of “several Katyusha-type rockets” on Israel.
The Israeli army, for its part, claims that “34 rockets were fired from Lebanese territory into Israeli territory”five of which fell in Israel and 25 were intercepted by air defense.
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The drop points of the other four rockets make “subject to scrutiny” adds the army. As of 6:30 p.m. (3:30 p.m. GMT), no claims had been published for these shootings.
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Interviewed by AFP shortly after 1 p.m. GMT, an Israeli military spokesman said the army had not retaliated “so far”.
“I’m still shaking”
In Fassuta, an Arab village in northern Israel, just two kilometers from the demarcation line, an AFP reporter saw a blackened rocket base lying on the road and a damaged car.
About twenty kilometers to the west, in Shlomi, AFP journalists saw offices riddled with impacts after the explosion of a device that left its mark in the middle of the road. “I heard the siren, I heard the explosion, I was at home and it was really terrifying”testified Shlomi Naaman, a 46-year-old Jewish lawyer working in one of these offices, for whom “it was unexpected”.
“It was terrifying, but it’s not something exceptional: it happens from time to time and each time it’s a shock”says Noy Atias, 21. “I’m still shaking”more “This is the reality in Israel”she adds, saying that she heard no less than five explosions.
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19-year-old man injured
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is continuously informed of the evolution of the situation and must carry out an assessment with the heads of the security agencies”following which, he will convene the restricted security cabinet, according to his office.
According to the Israeli emergency services, a 19-year-old man was injured by shrapnel and a woman in her 60s suffered minor injuries while running for cover.
Earlier Thursday, Lebanese Hezbollah proclaimed its “full solidarity” with the Palestinians and his support for “all measurements” that the Palestinian armed groups could take against Israel by denouncing “with force the assault of the Israeli occupation forces” against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in annexed East Jerusalem.
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Hezbollah, the pet peeve of Israel and which de facto controls southern Lebanon, maintains good relations with the Palestinian movement Hamas, in power in Gaza, and with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Its secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, received officials from both parties in March, and the leader of Hamas, Ismaïl Haniyeh is currently in Lebanon.
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“Indiscriminate shooting”
Two rockets were fired Wednesday evening from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory, following similar fire the previous night to which Israel responded with strikes, amid violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Paris called Thursday “to respect the historic status quo at the holy sites in Jerusalem” and condemned “the indiscriminate rocket fire targeting Israeli territory from Gaza and southern Lebanon”.
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Lebanon’s last rocket fire at Israel was in April 2022, but Thursday’s firings mark the biggest escalation since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, which left more than 1,200 Lebanese dead, the majority civilians, and 160 on the Israeli side, mostly soldiers.
The Shiite movement, considered “terrorist organization” by many Western countries, is the only Lebanese faction to have kept its armament since the end of the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990).
