Two rockets were fired from Lebanon today into northern Israel, prompting Israeli artillery to shell the fruit groves from which they were fired, security officials on both sides of the border said.
No casualties were immediately reported by Israeli police, who said two rockets landed. Lebanese security sources, who reported at least two outgoing missiles and 15 incoming Israeli shells, did not say who may have fired the rockets.
Israeli television later reported a third missile damaged an electricity pylon.
It was the first time since February that rockets had been fired from Lebanon into Israel, raising tensions along a border that remains volatile three years after a war between the Jewish state and Hezbollah Islamist guerrillas in Lebanon.
Occasional salvoes since then have been blamed by Israeli, Lebanese and UN peacekeeping forces in the area largely on fringe militant groups rather than on Hezbollah, the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Shi'ite movement which remains a powerful force in Lebanon, especially in the south.
During Israel's offensive against Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip in January, Hezbollah denied responsibility for several rockets fired from Lebanon. Security officials have said small groups active among Palestinian refugees or with links to al Qaeda were more likely to have mounted the attacks.
Reuters