Israeli tanks fired into southern Lebanon early Monday in response to a rocket fired from the country, the Israeli military said.
The incident along Israel’s northern border comes at a time of heightened tensions between Israelis and Palestinians. Recent weeks have seen a string of deadly attacks inside Israel, lethal arrest raids by Israel in the occupied West Bank and rocket attacks into Israel launched from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, as well as clashes in a key Jerusalem holy site.
It has been the worst violence to shake the region since an 11-day war between Israel and Gaza militants last year.
In a statement, the Israeli military said the rocket landed in an open area in northern Israel early Monday, causing no damage or injuries.
Shortly after, the military said it struck “the sources of the projectile launched and an infrastructure target in southern Lebanon.” It said “routine activity” in northern Israel was continuing and there were no special precautions being asked of civilians in the area.
The rare flareup on the Israeli-Lebanese border followed clashes over the past two weeks between Palestinians and Israeli police at Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem that have stoked Arab anger and international concern.
Small Palestinian factions in Lebanon have fired sporadically on Israel in the past.
On Twitter, the Israeli military said no sirens were sounded and no alert was declared in northern Israel when the projectile, which it did not identify in its posting, struck.
Israel’s anti-missile defense system does not necessarily intercept projectiles if they appear to be on track to hit unpopulated areas.
In response to the attack, Israeli artillery “targeted the source of the launch,” the Israeli military said, without giving further details.
Israel’s northern border has been mostly quiet since a 2006 war against Hezbollah guerrillas, who have sway in southern Lebanon and an arsenal of advanced rockets.
An Israeli military spokesperson tweeted that artillery forces bombarded open areas in southern Lebanon where the rocket came from, as well as an infrastructural target.
The Lebanese Army said in a statement that Israeli forces had launched 50 artillery shells into several Lebanese towns near the southern border with Israel.
Additionally, according to Lebanese media, UN peacekeeping forces (UNIFIL) in the country’s south sounded sirens along several of its positions near the border, while the Lebanese Army deployed troops.
UNIFIL Head of Mission Commander Aroldo Lázaro called for “calm and restraint” in a tweet.
In a statement released later Lázaro called Israeli response “disproportionate”. He called on all parties to avoid further escalation.
“Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Aroldo Lázaro was in immediate contact with authorities on both sides of the Blue Line to urge restraint,” the statement said. “Nonetheless, the Israel Defense Forces fired back several dozen shells into Lebanon.”
It was not clear which group in Lebanon was behind the rocket attack.
There have been several instances of rocket fire from Lebanon into Israel in recent years, with most blamed on Palestinian factions in the country, not the Hezbollah terror group.
However, it is unlikely that terrorists in southern Lebanon would be able to fire rockets without at least the tacit approval of the Iran-backed militia, which maintains tight control over the area.
The incident comes amid rising tension over clashes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and renewed rocket fire from Gaza toward Israel.
Hamas and other Gaza-based terror groups have repeatedly invoked the flashpoint holy site as a red line. Police actions to quell riots there last May were among the triggers of an 11-day war in Gaza.
