New missile attack from Lebanon on Israel, which responded with its first aerial bombardment in seven years

The Israeli Air Force said it carried out its first airstrikes against neighboring Lebanon in seven years Thursday after a second day of rocket fire across the border into northern Israel.

“Earlier today rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory”the Air Force tweeted.

“In response, Army fighter jets targeted launch sites and infrastructure from which rockets were fired into Lebanon in an attempt to terrorize“”, He said “An additional target has also been hit in the area from which rockets have been launched in the past. “.

The Israeli air force regularly bombs suspected positions of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip and also performs operations in the neighbor Syria, where he attacks targets of pro-Iranian elements.

Corn its last known airstrikes in Lebanon were in 2014, confirmed at AFP the Israeli army.

Lebanese television Al Manar, led by the powerful Shiite militant group Hezbollah, said Israeli planes carried out two strikes at around 12:40 a.m. (9:45 p.m. GMT) outside the town of Mahmudiya, about 11 kilometers from the border.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency also reported on the attacks, but provided few details.

He was the second day in a row that Israel has reported rocket fire from Lebanon.

Three rockets were fired on Wednesday, two of which reached Israel, near the northern city of Kiryat Shmona, where four people were treated for “symptoms of stress”.

In response to this attack, the IDF carried out three rounds of retaliatory bombings in southern Lebanon.

unleashed several bush fires in dry conditions, but no casualties were reported.

The Lebanese army said that 92 artillery shells fired by Israel land in southern Lebanon after Wednesday’s rocket fire.

He said that I was investigating who fired the rockets.

Ceasefire calls

The exchange took place as thousands of grieving Lebanese marked the first anniversary of a devastating explosion in the port of Beirut He killed at least 214 people and left an irreversible mark on the nation’s psyche.

The government of the day resigned in the face of a wave of popular anger, but a year later, despite the deepening economic crisis, a new administration has not been formed.

Israel has repeatedly warned that it will not allow Beirut’s power vacuum to undermine security. on its northern border.

The army said that “Consider the Lebanese State as responsible for all actions that have their origin in its territory and warns against further attempts to harm Israeli civilians and Israel’s sovereignty. “

For his part, the Israeli Minister of Defense, Benny Gantz, requested that a “strong message” be sent to UNIFIL, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, deployed in the south of the country on the border with Israel, according to its office.

At the same time, UNIFIL, which has been deployed to Lebanon since 1978 and has patrolled the border since a devastating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, he everywhere asked for moderation.

“The Head of Mission and Force Commander of UNIFIL, Major General Stefano Del Col, was in immediate contact with the parties”, the force said in a statement Wednesday.

He urged them to cease fire and exercise the utmost restraint to avoid further escalation, especially on this solemn anniversary.

“It is imperative to restore stability immediately so that UNIFIL can begin its investigation.”

(With information from AFP)

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