JERUSALEM — Rockets fired from Lebanon struck northern Israel early Tuesday for the first time in more than two years, drawing a burst of Israeli artillery fire across the tense border, the Israeli military said.
No casualties or major damage were reported on the Israeli side and no one claimed responsibility for the attack. The military said at least two of the rockets landed on Israeli soil, and that Israeli guns shelled the area where the fire had originated.
A Lebanese security official told The Associated Press that one rocket was fired from Lebanon and that Israel hit back with six rockets, which landed in an empty area. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The flare-up comes at a time when the entire region is engulfed in violence and upheaval, with thousands killed in the regime's crackdown on protesters in Syria and after popular uprisings ousted longtime rulers in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen.
The Israeli military said it did not expect Tuesday's incident to touch off a wider conflict with Lebanon. In a statement, however, it said it regarded the attack as "severe" and held the Lebanese government and army responsible for preventing rocket fire at Israel.
Army Radio said it was the eighth rocket attack since Israel's month-long war with Lebanese Hizbullah guerrillas ended in August 2006. Hizbullah has not claimed responsibility for any attacks since the end of the fighting, but smaller militant organizations, some Palestinian and some linked to Al-Qaeda, have launched rockets on several occasions.
None of the rocket attacks has caused serious casualties.
But in August 2010, two Lebanese soldiers, a Lebanese journalist and an Israeli soldier were killed in a brief border clash touched off by Lebanese army fire toward an Israeli military base.
Overall, however, the border has been largely quiet but tense since the 2006 war, which was sparked by a deadly cross-border attack by Hizbullah on an Israeli military patrol.
Israel bombed the group's strongholds and Hizbullah barraged northern Israel with nearly 4000 rockets.
About 1200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis were killed in the conflict, which ended with a UN-brokered truce that sent thousands of Lebanese troops and international peacekeepers to south Lebanon.
Although the cease-fire agreement forbade Hizbullah to rearm, Israel contends the group has since replenished its arsenal with even more powerful weapons.
