Israel Files Complaint with U.N. Over Rocket Attack from Lebanon
Israel has complained to the United Nations about the rocket attack from southern Lebanon on Friday as military sources in the Jewish state said a global jihad group was most likely behind the rocket firing.
Israel”s envoy to the U.N. Gabriela Shalev sent a letter on Friday to U.S. ambassador Susan Rice, whose country is currently holding the rotating Security Council presidency, and to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Shalev said in the letter that the attack was "another example of the presence of munitions and terror activity south of the Litani River in direct violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701."
Israel held the Lebanese government responsible and said Beirut wasn”t doing enough to prevent the presence of armed groups and weapons south of the Litani River, as outlined in Resolution 1701.
The rocket firing prompted Israel to respond with artillery fire. The exchange, in which no casualties were reported by either side, was the latest in persisting tensions between the two countries. It was the third time this year rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel, each time bringing Israeli retaliation.
The Israeli army said it fired artillery at the source of rocket attack in Qlaileh. The military "views this incident very severely and we hold the government of Lebanon responsible," a statement said.
"UNIFIL in coordination with the LAF (Lebanese army) deployed additional troops in the general area to prevent any escalation of the situation, but the situation is pretty calm today," the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane told Agence France Presse on Saturday.
The peacekeeping troops continued to urge both sides to exercise maximum restraint and had launched an investigation into the incident, Bouziane said, but would not comment on who could be behind the rocket attacks.
"We will wait for the report," she said.
Israel Army Radio quoted military sources as saying that a small jihad group with links abroad was likely behind the firing of the rockets.
Meanwhile, many Lebanese complained that they received calls from Israel on midnight Friday holding the Lebanese government and people responsible for any attack on the Jewish state. The message threatened to destroy Lebanon in case of such an attack.