Rockets fired at Israel from Lebanon side increases risk of conflict

Jerusalem: Militants fired a barrage of rockets from Lebanon at Israel on Thursday, the Israeli military said, forcing people across Israel’s northern frontier into bomb shelters, wounding at least one person and ratcheting up regional tensions as Israelis celebrated the Jewish Passover holiday.

In response, Israeli tanks along the border fired shells toward two southern Lebanese towns, reported Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency.

The rockets from southern Lebanon, where there are regular tensions between the Israeli military and Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Shiite militant group that wields power in much of southern Lebanon, raised fears of a larger conflagration.

Over the past two days, tensions have already skyrocketed at Jerusalem’s most prominent holy site and along Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip.

The UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, said in a statement that there had been “multiple rocket launches from southern Lebanon toward Israel” and the the Israeli army had informed UNIFIL that it activated its Iron Dome defence system in response. The head of the peacekeeping force, Maj. Gen. Aroldo Lazaro has been in contact with both Lebanese and Israeli authorities.