Lebanon Rockets Strike Israel

Israeli military sources are saying a salvo of Katyushas has struck the Western Galilee region of Israel Thursday causing two minor injuries.

The attack is the first of its kind to come out of Lebanon since the beginning of the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip almost two weeks ago December 27th. The barrage consisted of between 3-5 rockets depending on the news agency reporting with at least one landing in the Nahariya area, north of the city of Haifa. Reports also differ on whether there was an Israeli response or not with Israeli online daily 'H'aaretz ' quoting a security source as saying there was return fire in the form of five artillery shells, describing it as "a pinpoint response at the source of fire", while other news sources suggested the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) had refrained from any return fire. The strikes could be an extremely dangerous escalation in the fighting should another front be opened up on the border with Southern Lebanon. The Israelis had fought Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah to a stand still in the summer of 2006 and many fear another confrontation could be disastrous for the region. For its part, Hezbollah has stated it is prepared for an Israeli attack and has put its fighters on a state of heightened alert. Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah had warned any attack from the Israelis would be met with fierce resistance: "If the Israelis step out of line, the second Lebanon war in 2006 would be nothing compared to what we have in store for them." Israel had recently violated Lebanese airspace with its fighter jets, which although not uncommon, caused concern among Lebanese the IDF may be attempting to trigger a response from Hezbollah. Lebanese Parliamentary majority leader, Saad Hariri, tried to allay the fears of the public saying he had been assured by Hezbollah it would not involve itself militarily in the conflict unless otherwise attacked. The Israelis believe the Katyusha rocket barrage was not of the type used by Hezbollah but archaic ones likely fired by Lebanese-based Palestinian groups. Similar weapons were discovered in the early days of the Gaza conflict set to fire by timer and had been disarmed.