IDF shells Lebanon after rocket fire

Two rockets were fired at northern Israel from Lebanon early on Tuesday morning, setting off incoming rocket sirens in communities along the border.

One rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system and the other struck an open field. There were no injuries or damage and the IDF said that there were no special instructions for residents.

The IDF said it responded with tank shells.

In May, during Operation Guardian of the Walls, a dozen rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon causing several people to be injured while running for shelter. 

For the first time since the Second Lebanon War in 2006, incoming rocket sirens were activated in the southern Galilee region, as well as the Haifa suburbs of Kiryat Bialik and Kiryat Motzkin after four rockets were fired.

Several days earlier, six rockets were fired from Rashaya Al Foukhar, north of Kfar Choub in southern Lebanon. 

All fell short of the border and landed inside Lebanese territory, the IDF said – adding, however, that one of the rockets may have crossed into Israel.

The IDF fired back toward the source of the rocket launch in Lebanon with tank and artillery shells. A Lebanese security source said that about 22 shells were fired by Israeli artillery towards Lebanese territory.

The military believes that Palestinian groups north of Mount Dov  – and not Hezbollah – are responsible for the rockets.

It is still unclear who fired the rockets early on Tuesday morning.

The rocket fire came shortly after Israel was alleged to have struck targets near al-Safirah, in Syria’s Aleppo province. According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the strikes targeted a weapons depot belonging to Iranian-backed militias inside Syrian Army bases.