FIghters out of the Gaza Strip and in Lebanon elected to fire off dozens of rockets targeting Israel late last week in the wake of the start of the Jewish celebration of Passover.
Militants out of Lebanon fired off 34 rockets across the northern border of Israel, as reported by the Israeli military. A total of twenty-five of those rockets ended up being shot down by the Iron Dome defense system used by Israel, an additional five more landed in Israeli territory, and the rest are currently still being investigated by the Israeli military, as reported by the Associated Press.
As roughly the same time that Israel was being forced to fight off the massive missile barrage from the north, terror groups out of the Gaza Strip launched their own rocket strikes out of the south. These particular militants fire a total of seven rockets that exploded in midair, as reported by Fox News.
As of writing, no group has spoken out to claim responsibility for the massive rocket barrage originating from Lebanon. The tensions between Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based terrorist organization, and Israel have been rapidly on the rise. The terror group recently chose to condemn Israel for a police raid targeting Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, known as the third holiest site in Islam, in the wake of hundreds of Palestinians attempting to seal themselves inside the mosque overnight. The mosque sits squarely on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism.
A pair of raids on the Al-Aqsa Mosque were carried out by Israeli security forces last week, resulting in the arrests of hundreds of Palestinian “rioters and mosque desecrators” that “barricaded themselves inside,” explained Israeli police forces in a released statement.
“After many and prolonged attempts to get them out by talking to no avail, police were forced to enter the compound in order to get them out,” explained police officials.
“When the police entered, stones were thrown at them, and fireworks were fired from inside the mosque by a large group of agitators,” stated Police.
The raid was labeled by Hezbollah as “a flagrant violation” of “religious, moral and human values,” as reported by the AP. Though eternally at odds with Israel, the terror group has chosen to avoid any sort of direct open conflict with Israel since the 2006 34-day war.
The U.S. State Department spoke out to once again state Israel’s right to defend itself.
“We condemn the launch of rockets from Lebanon and Gaza,” expressed State Department spokesman Vedant Patel, as reported by The Times Of Israel. “Our commitment to Israel’s security is ironclad. We recognize Israel’s legitimate right to defend itself against all forms of aggression.”
