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

Several rockets were fired from southern Lebanon on April 6 afternoon with at least one intercepted by the Iron Dome air defence 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, The Times of Israel reports.

Incoming rocket sirens sounded in the towns of Betzet and Shlomi in 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.

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.