Patrols near the Lebanese village of Dhaira on March 15, 2023. (Credit: Jalaa Marey/AFP)
Three rockets were fired on Thursday night towards the Israeli settlement of Metulla from the southern Lebanese district of Marjayoun, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported. The incident comes after dozens of rockets were fired from Lebanon toward northern Israel earlier Thursday.
Following the earlier barrage, the Israeli army's Arabic-speaking spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a Tweet that "34 rockets" had been "fired from Lebanon toward Israel, and 25 of them were intercepted by the Israeli anti-aircraft defense system." Of the nine that were not intercepted, he said "five landed in Israeli territory while the four remaining are still being searched for."
"There are no exceptional directives on the internal front," he added.
The Israeli army on Thursday accused Palestinian faction Hamas, which is present in Lebanon, of firing rockets from Lebanese territories toward Israel.
Adraee also commented that the "Lebanese government bears the responsibility when rockets are fired from its territories toward Israel. The firing of rockets is considered a dangerous incident."
"We are also examining the possibility of the intervention of Iran in the firing of rockets from Lebanon," Adraee added.
On Thursday evening, the Lebanese Army said in a statement that it had found the launching pads used to fire dozens of rockets earlier Thursday towards Israel, along with unused ammunition, near the villages of Ziqine and Qlaileh.
For his part, Daniel Hagari, another Israeli army spokesperson, denied reports about Israel firing back artillery following the incident. In a media briefing, he said, "We have not responded in Lebanon; there was no Israeli army artillery fire in Lebanon."
Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh arrived on a visit to Lebanon on Wednesday morning.