Four rockets fired at Israel from Lebanon
An Israeli soldier carries shells on the border with Lebanon in 2006. Israel is on high alert as the Syrian conflict continues to spill over its borders.
Four rockets were fired from Lebanon towards northern Israel on Thursday, Lebanese and Israeli officials said. Lebanon’s official National News Agency said the rockets were fired from the Lebanese city of Tyre.
The Wall Street Journal reported a local branch of Abdullah Azzam Brigade’s an Al Qaeda spinoff claimed responsibility for the attack.
Israel’s Army Radio reported that one of the rockets was deflected in flight by the country’s "Iron Dome" anti-missile system.
At least three rockets landed in unpopulated areas, causing no casualties or damage, Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri told Bloomberg News.
Air raid sirens were triggered in northern towns, including Nahariya and Kiryat Shemona, and residents said they heard explosions.
"I heard a weak explosion, and then in parallel to the siren, I heard a stronger boom," Keinan Engel, who lives in Nahariya, told Army Radio, according to Reuters. "I went to take cover, in a reinforced room."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded “we are deploying a wide range of means, both defensive and preventative… Anyone who attacks us, or tries to attack us, should know that we will get him.”
Southern Lebanon is a stronghold of the Shia Islamist movement Hezbollah, and militant groups have sent rockets into Israel in the past. Rockets fired from Lebanon last struck Israel in November 2011.