Daily Times

The Israeli army said it intercepted a rocket fired from Lebanon Thursday after clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians inside Islam’s third-holiest site drew warnings of retaliation from around the region. “A rocket was fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory and was successfully intercepted,” an army statement said. Warning sirens had sounded in the town of Shlomi and in Moshav Betzet and the Galilee in northern Israel, the army said, amid hints there could be further rockets. There was no immediate claim of the responsibility for the attack.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “receiving continuous updates about the security situation and will conduct an assessment with the heads of the security establishment,” his office said. Tensions have risen and global concern has mounted after Israeli police clashed with Palestinians inside Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque before dawn Wednesday and again in the evening. The violence sparked an exchange of rockets and air strikes with militants in Gaza, with fears of further escalation.

Lebanon’s armed movement Hezbollah warned earlier Thursday it would support “all measures” Palestinian groups may take against Israel after the clashes. “Hezbollah forcefully denounces the assault carried out by the Israeli occupation forces against the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and its attacks on the faithful,” Hezbollah said in a statement. Hezbollah, an arch foe of Israel, has close ties with the Islamist movement Hamas, which rules Gaza, and with the Islamic Jihad group, which is also based in the coastal enclave.

The last rocket fired from Lebanon into Israel was in April 2022. Security incidents occur from time to time in the border area between Lebanon and Israel, which is guarded by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.