Rocket fire from Lebanon targets Israel after Al Aqsa clashes

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Rocket fire from Lebanon targeted Israel on Thursday after clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians inside Islam's third-holiest site drew warnings of retaliation from around the region. 

Israel's army said it had intercepted a rocket in the attack which was not immediatly claimed by any group, and denied Lebanese media reports that it had launched retaliatory strikes.

"A rocket was fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory and was successfully intercepted," an army statement said as Israeli media reported a "salvo" of projectiles had been fired into Israel.

The attack came amid heightened tensions after Israeli police clashed with Palestinians inside Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque before dawn on Wednesday and again in the evening.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "receiving continuous updates about the security situation and will conduct an assessment with the heads of the security establishment," his office said.

Israeli emergency services reported a man had been lightly wounded by shrapnel and a female was injured while running to a shelter.

Warning sirens sounded in the town of Shlomi and in Moshav Betzet and the Galilee in northern Israel, the army said.

According to the Lebanon report, Israeli artillery fired "several shells from its positions on the border" towards the outskirts of two villages after the launch of "several Katyusha type rockets" at Israel.

Israeli occupation forces had on Wednesday stormed the prayer hall of Al Aqsa Mosque in a pre-dawn raid aiming to dislodge “law-breaking youths and masked agitators” they said had barricaded themselves inside.

The violence, during both the Jewish Passover and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, sparked an exchange of rockets and air strikes with militants in the Gaza Strip, with fears of further escalation.

Lebanon’s pro-Iranian armed movement Hizbollah had warned earlier on Thursday it would support “all measures” that Palestinian groups may take against Israel after the clashes. 

“Hizbollah forcefully denounces the assault carried out by the Israeli occupation forces against the Al Aqsa Mosque and its attacks on the faithful,” Hizbollah said in a statement.

Hizbollah, an arch foe of Israel, has close ties with the Islamist movement Hamas, which rules Gaza, and with the Islamic Jihad militant group, which is also based in the coastal enclave. 

The last rocket fired from Lebanon into Israel was in April 2022. 

Security incidents occur from time to time in the border area between Lebanon and Israel, which is guarded by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.

The UN force urged restraint after the rocket fire Thursday.