Lebanon Militants Launch Rocket Into Israel

Lebanese militants launched a rocket into northern Israel on Tuesday evening, drawing a rapid response from Israeli artillery in a brief flare-up across the tense border.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said a single rocket from Lebanon hit northeastern Israel, but caused no casualties.

In a statement, the Israeli military said it views the incident as "grave" and holds the Lebanese government responsible.

Lebanon's official news agency said unknown elements unleashed a Katyusha rocket from a valley between the Lebanese border villages of Houla and Mais al-Jabal.

About 45 minutes later, Israeli artillery shelled the area from which the rocket was fired, the agency said.

A Lebanese military official said nine shells fell on the area and Israeli helicopters and drones flew over the area.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket launch.

A Hezbollah official refused to comment on the rocket firing when contacted by The Associated Press late Tuesday.

Yasmina Bouziane, a spokeswoman for the U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL deployed in southern Lebanon after the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, said the force "is ascertaining the facts and looking into the incident."

The Lebanon-Israel border has been largely quiet since Israel and the militant group Hezbollah fought a bitter war in the summer of 2006. That war ended with a U.N.-brokered cease-fire that saw thousands of Lebanese troops and international peacekeepers deployed to keep the peace in south Lebanon.

Hezbollah has not claimed responsibility for any attacks since the end of the fighting, which ravaged Lebanon's south.

But smaller militant organizations, some of them linked to Al Qaeda, have launched rockets on several occasions. The last one was on Sept. 11.

Tuesday's attack was the fifth this year. None have caused serious casualties.

Source: Foxnews

Lebanon: Israeli cables explosion violates Resolution 1701

Eyal Lehman

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora on Sunday accused Israel of blatantly violating United Nations Resolution 1701, following a mysterious detonation of alleged Israeli spy devices placed on the Israel-Lebanon border.

Siniora also said that drones were spotted in Lebanese airspace at the time of the detonations – another violation of the resolution.

Earlier, a Lebanese military spokesperson claimed that two cables were remotely detonated by the Israeli military. A third cable was destroyed by the Lebanese army.

"Both explosions seem to have been triggered by Israel in order to destroy devices it had planted in the sector a long time ago. Israel feared the devices would be discovered and decided to destroy them," she said.

The Lebanese army also reported firing at the drone, saying the unmanned aircraft was "in range."

Earlier still, Hezbollah claimed that it was the one to uncovered the cables, saying Israel used them to tap its communications near the town of Houla in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah's commander in south Lebanon, Nabil Kaouk said that "Israel's repeated threats and violations prove it is a danger to Lebanon."

Speaking at the town of Aita al-Shaab, he added: "The 6,000 violations of international decision and Lebanon's sovereignty by Israel have yet to prompt the UN Security Council to call even one meeting. Lebanon's term in the Security Council will allow it to thwart Israel's violations before they become a matter of fact."

Meanwhile, the UNIFIL peacekeeping force began investigating the incident, saying initial findings indicated the detonations were triggered by underground sensor devices, apparently planted during the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

"These do look like some sort of espionage device," Michael Williams, the UN special coordinator for Lebanon, said.

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Source: YNet

IDF: Hizbullah hiding rockets in homes

By YAAKOV KATZ

A day after an explosion uncovered a hidden Hizbullah arms cache in southern Lebanon, the IDF's Northern Command estimated that the group had turned hundreds of homes in the area into warehouses to store short- and medium-range Katyusha rockets.

UN peacekeeper monitors the Israeli-Lebanese border

The IDF released video footage taken from an Israeli aircraft, showing a home that had exploded on Tuesday in the village of Hirbet Selm - located some 20 kilometers north of the Lebanese border. The roof is seen in the footage with dozens of holes, which IDF ballistic experts said were the size of 122-mm. Katyusha rockets.

UNIFIL said that storing the ammunition was a "serious violation" of the UN-brokered ceasefire that ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

The peace keeping force said that it considered the incident a "serious violation" of the UN resolution that ended the conflict, which specifies that there should be no presence of unauthorized assets or weapons in the area of operations.

Israeli defense officials had also accused Lebanon of violating United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.

"This is a major violation of resolution 1701," one Israeli official said. "The weaponry was stored inside a village and is proof of our longstanding claim that Hizbullah uses civilian infrastructure to hide its weaponry."

Contrary to Lebanese media reports which claimed that the cache was hidden in the village before the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Israeli defense officials said that the weaponry was recently placed inside the storehouse.

According to the officials, the cache was hidden in a storehouse inside the village and contained dozens of 122mm Katyusha rockets as well as high-powered machine guns. Some of the rockets reportedly flew into the sky.

The blast took place at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, and for the first few hours, Hizbullah sealed off the area and refused to grant UNIFIL or the Lebanese army access. IDF sources said that the clearing of the home and the unexploded ordinance had taken over 24 hours.

The sources said the IDF had been aware prior to the explosion that the home was being used as a storehouse for weapons. Several months before the explosion, an IDF aircraft captured footage of several senior Hizbullah operatives entering an underground tunnel near the house and reappearing from an exit 700 m. away.

"This house was connected to an entire underground network that was built right under the noses of UNIFIL and the Lebanese army," one IDF officer said. "This is a major violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701."

The Katyusha rockets that went off in Hirbet Selm were being stored in a two-story home. It was unclear on which floor they were being stored, but the home was shown on Lebanese television in close proximity to other village buildings.

In addition to the 122-mm. rockets, IDF ballistic experts said it was likely that the home also contained mortar shells and additional types of ammunition.

Source: Jerusalem Post

H/T JihadWatch