A nighttime rocket assault from Lebanon struck the Western Galilee region on Tuesday. According to the IDF Spokesperson’s Blog, multiple rockets hit, but no casualties were reported. The military blog said the IDF “regards this incident as severe, and holds the Lebanese government and the Lebanese Army responsible for preventing any rocket fire toward Israel.” The IDF targeted the origins of the fire in response.
Haaretz reported that a small group affiliated with Al-Qaeda, the Sheikh Abdullah Azzam Brigades, claimed credit for the rockets. The Israeli newspaper also reported that the Lebanese Army said it found a pair of rocket launchers thought to have been used in the attack.
As of Tuesday afternoon it appeared the situation had calmed down. Random and short-lived attacks such as this one have happened in the past. The IDF Blog said that the Israeli military’s Northern Command was “operationally prepared,” and conducted an “ongoing situation assessment” following the incident.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the unprovoked rocket attack in a statement from his spokesperson and posted on the UN website. The statement said that “the situation is now calm.”
In addition, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is cooperating with the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and the IDF to investigate the incident.
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, November 29, 2011)