Israeli military fires shells at southern Lebanon

Israel has fired artillery shells at Lebanon, after rockets were fired from the country toward the occupied Palestinian territories.

The Israeli military said it had launched artillery at what it said were “the sources of” six shells that were fired from Lebanon toward the northern part of the occupied territories on Monday.

It claimed that the Lebanese shells fell short of crossing Lebanon’s border.

Israeli media on Tuesday cited the regime’s military spokesperson, Hidai Zilberman, as saying that six projectiles had been fired from a town north of Shabaa Farms in southern Lebanon toward northern Israel.

The Israeli military said that Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement had not been behind the Monday rocket fire and that a small Palestinian faction had rather been responsible.

Ali Shoaib, a reporter for Lebanon’s al-Manar TV, said in a tweet in the early hours of Tuesday that four rockets had been fired from the forests of al-Hibbariyeh heights, three of which landed near the Lebanese villages of Houla, Rob Tlateen, Adaisseh, and al-Taybeh while the fourth hit an unidentified area.

He added that Israel fired 15 155-mm artillery shells, two tank shells and four flares at Lebanese border areas in response.

Reuters cited a Lebanese security source as saying that about 22 shells were fired by the Israeli military at Lebanon.

There were no reports of casualties or damage.

Footage circulated on social media showing the moment rockets were fired from Lebanon toward Israel.

Another video showed the debris of two rockets, which landed in Lebanese territory, and whose source was unknown.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said late on Monday that it had detected the firing of rockets from the general area of Rashaya al-Foukhar, north of Kfar Choub, in southern Lebanon, adding that the Israeli military “returned artillery fire directed at location from where rockets originated.”

The mission wrote on Twitter that its head, Stefano Del Col, was immediately in contact with counterparts in the Lebanese army and the Israeli military, “urging the parties to exercise maximum restraint in order to prevent any escalation of the situation.”

It added that, “The situation in the area is now calm.”

Three rockets were also fired from Lebanon toward the occupied territories on Thursday.

Israeli media claimed that the missiles landed in the Mediterranean Sea, causing no damage or casualties.

Over the past weeks, tensions have escalated in Jerusalem al-Quds amid acts of aggression by Israeli troops and settlers and the planned forced expulsions of dozens of Palestinians from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in the occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds, where illegal Israeli settlers are looking to take over the properties of Palestinian families.

Gaza-based Palestinian resistance fighters have launched hundreds of rockets into Israeli-occupied territories in retaliation for the Tel Aviv regime’s violations in Jerusalem al-Quds.

The Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed 212 Palestinians since May 10.

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