Mortar. Photograoh by idfonline
A rocket has been fired from southern Lebanon towards Israel, reportedly exploding near the northern Israeli town of Metula according to Lebanese media and security sources.
A “rocket launch” could be heard from the Lebanese town of Marjayoun, with residents of Metula hearing an explosion, but the Israeli Defence Force did not detect a launch and no impact site or debris has been found leading some to believe that this was a mortar.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the launch, but Hezbollah and a number of Palestinian militant groups are known to operate in the area.
This news comes a day after three people were wounded in a rocket attack in the Hezbollah-controlled southern part of Beirut. Tension has been high in Lebanon in recent weeks as Hezbollah has become increasingly open about its involvement in the ongoing Syrian civil war, with the Shia Islamist group working with the regime against a majority Sunni uprising.
This rocket attack in the Lebanese capital came soon after a speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, where he said that Hezbollah fighters would remain involved in the Syrian conflict “until the end of the road”, claiming that they will bring victory to Assad against the “Western plot” to overthrow him.
The increasingly open statements of Hezbollah involvement in Syria cause many to fear that Lebanon may soon see sectarian violence spilling over the border from Syria. Both Sunni and Shia Islamist clerics in the country have already made clear that they support such sectarian actions, but the violence within Lebanon has been minimal to this point, with a population that clearly remembers the death toll of the 15 years Lebanese civil war that finally ended in 1990.
