IDF: 3 rockets fired from Lebanon hit sea off northern coast

Palestinian terror group, not Hezbollah, suspected of being behind attack, which caused no damage or injuries

Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.

Aerial view of the Rosh Hanikra-Achziv marine nature reserve. (Shai Cabassa, Israel Nature and Parks Authority)
Aerial view of the Rosh Hanikra-Achziv marine nature reserve. (Shai Cabassa, Israel Nature and Parks Authority)

Three rockets fired from southern Lebanon landed in the sea off the coast of northern Israel on Thursday night, the Israel Defense Forces said.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, the rockets landed in the Mediterranean across from Israel’s northern coast. As the projectiles were heading toward an unpopulated area, no sirens or air defenses were triggered.

An as-yet-unidentified Palestinian group was believed to be behind the attack, not the Hezbollah terrorist militia, according to Lebanese media.

A spokesperson for Hezbollah, one of Israel’s most significant enemies in the region, told Lebanon’s L’Orient Today news outlet that the terror organization was not behind the attack.

The attack came amid ongoing fighting between Israel and Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip, raising fears that the conflict may expand to Israel’s northern borders as well.

A spokesperson for the Lebanese security services told Al-Jazeera that the rockets were fired towards Israel from close to a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon.

“The source of the rockets fired at Israel is unclear, and the investigation continues. The rockets that were fired towards northern Israel came from the vicinity of the Rashidiya [Palestinian refugee camp[ in Tyre,” Al-Jazeera reported.

This was the first rocket attack toward Israel from Lebanon since 2015, when a number of rockets were fired at northern Israel after Palestinian terrorist Samir Kuntar was killed in an airstrike widely attributed to the IDF.

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