Army spokesman Amnon Schefler announced that three had fallen in Lebanon and ten had been intercepted by the “Iron Dome” missile defense system. A message from the military said that the rest of them had fallen into open space. The army then attacked the locations from which the rockets were fired.
Hezbollah, which is closely allied with Iran, then assumed responsibility for shelling “open areas” on the Shebaa farms. They were a reaction to the air strikes by Israel on Thursday, it said in a statement. According to the United Nations, the so-called Shebaa farms belong to the Syrian territories occupied by Israel in 1967. However, Syria and some parties in Lebanon see the area as Lebanese territory.
In Israel, there were initially no reports of injuries, as the rescue service announced. The United Nations Observer Mission in Lebanon (Unifil) called for an end to the mutual shelling.
Army spokesman Schefler said: “As we understand it, Hezbollah deliberately targeted open spaces so as not to escalate the situation.” She only wanted to demonstrate that she had control over southern Lebanon.
In the past few days and weeks, rockets had already been fired from southern Lebanon several times, although the army said they came from Palestinian groups.
On Thursday, Israeli fighter pilots attacked targets in the south of the neighboring country, the army announced. This was a reaction to rocket fire from Lebanon. The locations from which the rockets were fired as well as “targets used for terrorism” were shelled.
Israel and Lebanon are officially at war. There are always tensions at the border. For Hezbollah in particular, Israel is an archenemy.