JERUSALEM (AP) � Two rockets fired from Lebanon landed in northern Israel on Thursday in a rare attack that immediately raised tensions along the volatile front, authorities said.
Police said the rockets landed in an open area near the border town of Nahariya, causing no injuries. The Israeli military said a third rocket was intercepted by the country's "Iron Dome" rocket-defense system.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Lebanon's state-run news agency reported three rockets were fired from the village of Housh, near the city of Tyre.

South Lebanon, the scene of bitter fighting between Israel and Lebanese militant Hezbollah guerrillas in 2006, is considered a Hezbollah stronghold. There are also Palestinian radical groups and Islamic militants that could also provoke a border incident. Several such incidents in the past were claimed by radical Palestinian groups.

Israeli military officials have accused "global jihad" elements of being behind the attack, referring to groups either linked to or inspired by al-Qaida. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity under military guidelines.

Witnesses in northern Israel reported hearing explosions and sirens wailing Nahariya. Keinan Engel, a Nahariya resident, told Israel Radio that he heard the siren follow a loud boom nearby. The Israeli military said it was investigating. Israel's Channel 2 television station showed a still image of a remnant of a rocket on a cobblestone street and a nearby vehicle damaged.

The Israel-Lebanon border has remained quiet since the monthlong 2006 war. Sporadic incidents of rocket fire have taken place since.

But tensions have remained high, especially as Hezbollah has gotten increasingly involved in the civil war in neighboring Syria. Israel fears that Syria will transfer sophisticated weapons to Hezbollah.

By The Associated Press

 

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