The United Nations on Thursday condemned multiple rockets fired into northern Israel from Lebanon and urged all actors to exercise maximum restraint, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
"The UN interim force in Lebanon remains in contact with authorities on both sides of the blue line and we urge the parties to liaise with our peacekeepers and avoid any unilateral action that could further escalate the situation," he said.
Militants in Lebanon fired a heavy barrage of rockets at Israel on Thursday, the Israeli military said, forcing people across Israel's northern frontier into bomb shelters.
The rocket fire sent shrapnel flying that wounded at least two people, according to the Galilee Medical Center. They included a 19-year-old man who was struck while driving in the Arab village of Fassouta and a 26-year-old hit while riding a motorbike. Israeli police said a bomb squad removed a number of fragments from areas in the north.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency, along with Lebanese officials, reported that Israeli tanks along the border fired shells toward southern Lebanese towns near the Rashidiyeh Palestinian refugee camp in response to the rocket fire. Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, the army spokesman, denied the claim and said there had been no Israeli fire.
The Lebanese army said in a statement that it found missile launchers and “a number of rockets intended for launch” in the vicinity of the towns of Zibqin and Qalila in south Lebanon and was working to dismantle them.
No faction in Lebanon claimed responsibility for the salvo of rockets. A Lebanese security official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media, said the country's security forces believed the rockets were launched by a Lebanon-based Palestinian militant group, not by Hezbollah.
