LEBANON: UN and Lebanese peacekeepers find site in southern Lebanon from where rockets were launched towards Israel the night before

Record ID: 397343

  • Title: LEBANON: UN and Lebanese peacekeepers find site in southern Lebanon from where rockets were launched towards Israel the night before
  • Date: 30th November 2011
  • Summary: NEAR RUMAYSH, SOUTH LEBANON, LEBANON (NOVEMBER 29, 2011) (REUTERS) LEBANESE SOLDIERS WALKING ON A HILL IN THE AREA FROM WHERE ROCKETS WERE LAUNCHED TOWARDS ISRAEL AFTER MIDNIGHT SOLDIERS SEARCHING THE AREA FOR ROCKET LAUNCHERS UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPERS ON THE ROAD NEAR THE SITE SITE IN THE GROUND FROM WHERE ROCKET WAS LAUNCHED LEBANESE SOLDIERS SURROUNDING THE AREA
  • Embargoed: 15th December 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon, Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA3M4LBIM80E70ARQ0VTHQJL34H
  • Story Text: Several rockets fired from Lebanon hit northern Israel on Tuesday (November 29), the first since 2009, prompting Israel to return fire, military officials said.
    Two buildings in Israel's western Galilee area were damaged, Israeli media said, but there were no reports of casualties.
    Residents said they heard two explosions and that houses shook.
    UNIFIL, the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, said it had deployed extra troops and patrols in the area and called for restraint.
    Israel said it was trying to establish who fired the rockets from Lebanon, but that it held the Lebanese government responsible and would deliver a complaint.
    The Israeli-Lebanese border has been largely quiet in recent years, though some have worried about a possible spillover of tensions from a months-old revolt in Syria against President Bashar al-Assad and from a stiffening of Western sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme.
    The Lebanese army said the rocket launchers were found in the Rumaysh area of south Lebanon.
    In Lebanon, security sources said four Katyusha rockets were fired into Israel from an area between the villages of Aita Shaab and Rmeish, about 2 km (1 mile) from the border.
    They said Israel fired four artillery shells in response, but they landed in fields and caused no damage.
    An Israeli military spokesman said the rockets were the first fired since 2009 across a border where a 34-day war was fought in 2006 between Israel and Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.
    Israel's Ynet news Web site said residents saw plumes of smoke where the rockets struck.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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