Rockets fired at Israel from Lebanon as Hezbollah warns over Al-Aqsa clashes

Several rockets were fired from southern Lebanon on Thursday afternoon with at least one intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system over northern Israel, the military said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the launches came just hours after Lebanon’s Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah said it would support “all measures” Palestinian groups may take against Israel after clashes at the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Incoming rocket sirens sounded in the towns of Betzet and Shlomi in the Western Galilee close to the border with Lebanon. The Israel Defense Forces said one rocket was identified and intercepted by the Iron Dome.

Shortly after, sirens continued to sound in other towns across the area.

Footage circulating online showed trails of smoke from the Iron Dome interceptor missiles. The Magen David Adom rescue service said one man was lightly injured by shrapnel and a woman was hurt running for the bomb shelter.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was being briefed on the incidents that came on the first day of the Passover festival and would hold an assessment with military and security leaders, his office said.

The suspected rocket attack came as tensions ran high following rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, clashes on the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem as well as a suspected Iranian drone launched from Syria earlier in the week.

Following those incidents, Hezbollah appeared to suggest it could also enter the fray. And while it is possible that the rocket fire from Lebanon was carried out by Palestinian groups based there, it is unlikely they would do so without the tacit approval of the terror group that controls southern Lebanon.

“Hezbollah forcefully denounces the assault carried out by the Israeli occupation forces against the Al-Aqsa mosque compound and its attacks on the faithful,” Hezbollah said in a statement.

“Hezbollah proclaims its full solidarity with the Palestinian people and the resistance groups, and pledges that it will stand with them in all measures they take to protect worshipers and the Al-Aqsa Mosque and to deter the enemy from continuing its attacks,” the group said.

Global concern has mounted after Israeli police clashed with Palestinians inside Islam’s third-holiest site, sparking an exchange of rockets and air strikes with terrorists in Gaza, with fears of further escalation.

The fighting raised fears of a wider conflagration. Similar clashes two years ago erupted into a bloody 11-day war between Israel and Hamas. Hezbollah’s warning raises the specter of an even wider conflict.

Hezbollah has close ties with Hamas, which rules Gaza, and with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, which is also based in the coastal enclave.

In the summer of 2006, Israel and Hezbollah fought a war in Lebanon that killed about 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers, and nearly 1,200 Lebanese, including several hundred Hezbollah fighters, according to the Israeli army.

Terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired a number of rockets early Thursday morning, setting off rocket warning sirens in Israeli communities near the border, the military said.

The salvo came after projectiles were launched from the coastal enclave the previous evening and Palestinians again clashed with police at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem for the second day.

The IDF said seven surface-to-air rockets were launched, with all of them exploding in the sky. It added that two of the rockets were fired in the direction of the Mediterranean Sea and the rest toward Israel. The missiles were likely targeting Israeli Air Force craft in the area.

The launches set off alert systems in the communities of Ranen, Patish, Dorot and Havat Shikmim, with residents instructed to take cover in bomb shelters.

The army said it did not fire interceptor missiles at the incoming rockets. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

On Wednesday night, two rockets were fired from Gaza, one of which failed to clear the border while the other landed in an open area.

Shortly after, renewed fighting erupted at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount and riots broke out along the Gaza border and several Arab Israeli communities.

The violence followed skirmishes Tuesday between police and worshipers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, subsequent rocket fire from Gaza and Israeli counterstrikes in the Strip on Wednesday morning.

The IDF has yet to respond to the projectiles launched Wednesday night.

The unrest came amid concerns of a potential escalation during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which frequently sees a spike in Israeli-Palestinian tensions, and coincides this year with Passover and Easter. Passover began on Wednesday evening. The first two weeks of Ramadan had passed by relatively smoothly.

The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism and is revered as the location of both ancient Jewish temples. The compound is Islam’s third holiest site and is managed by Jordan, as part of a delicate arrangement with Israel.

Tens of thousands of worshipers visit Al-Aqsa throughout the Ramadan month, regularly leading to a spike in tensions with Israel and violence.

The Gaza-ruling Hamas terrorist group denounced the Tuesday raid on the mosque as an “unprecedented crime” and called on Palestinians in the West Bank “to go en masse to the Al-Aqsa Mosque to defend it.”

The clashes led to some 16 rockets being fired at Israel from Gaza early Wednesday. The Sderot Municipality said one of the rockets struck a factory in the industrial area, causing damage. No one was hurt.

In response Israel carried out airstrikes in the Strip, hitting several Hamas facilities.

Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report.