The rocket attack comes after Israeli police attacked dozens of Palestinian worshipers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem
Lebanon fired over 100 rockets at northern Israel. There are damaged buildings in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Netanya, and there are victims, Al Jazeera reports. Residents in the Western Galilee are advised to stay in shelters and bomb shelters.
The Jerusalem Post and other Israeli media reported that this was one of the most powerful attacks from Lebanon. There have not been such intense missile attacks since August 2021 (more than 20 missiles were fired then).
At least three victims are currently known. Air raid sirens have sounded in many towns this afternoon. The Israel Defense Forces Command reported that after 2:30 p.m. “many rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory.”
Most of the missiles were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, but some of the warheads reached their targets. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will reportedly hold an operational security meeting in connection with the missile attack.
The attack took place during the Jewish holiday of Passover and the Muslim month of Ramadan. Meanwhile, the Israeli army has already retaliated on Lebanese territory, Israeli sources said.
Tensions have been raised following Israeli operations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem on Tuesday night and the subsequent protests in the West Bank. The first incursion of Israeli forces into Al-Aqsa was on the day when the Jewish holiday of Passover began, this year coinciding with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The Arab League has strongly condemned the Israeli police operation against the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and said that the action of law enforcement agencies threatens regional stability, Reuters reported.
In a statement issued after an emergency meeting dedicated to the case, the league denounced what it said were “crimes committed by Israeli occupation forces against defenseless Muslim worshippers” at the temple.
Map of the Old City of Jerusalem and the Al Aqsa Mosque with the location of the forces
The action taken poses a danger of “triggering a spiral of violence, threatening security and stability in the region and the world,” added the communique, quoted by the news agencies.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part, said the situation was caused by “extremists” who barricaded themselves in the mosque with weapons, stones and pyrotechnics.
Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Abdul Ghaith condemned the operation in a separate statement:
“The extremist approach to which the Israeli government’s policy is subject will lead to massive clashes with the Palestinians if it is not stopped,” he said.
However, a source in “Hezbollah” at “Al Arabiy al Jadeed” denies that the group has anything in common. Reuters later cited three security sources who said Palestinian fighters, not Hezbollah, were responsible.
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