Israel detects 70 rockets fired from Lebanon towards northern Israel

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israel detected since early Friday the firing of some 70 rockets from Lebanon towards areas in northern Israel, according to local media.

The Israeli Haaretz daily cited a statement by the Israeli army that said 70 rockets were fired from Lebanon towards northern Israel since early morning.

The local Channel 12 said the rocket firing triggered the activation of the air-raid sirens in Acre, Kiryat Shmona, Metula and areas in the Upper Galilee.

The Israeli army said it intercepted some of the rockets while others landed in open areas, without mentioning if there were casualties caused by the rockets.

Hezbollah, for its part, announced on Friday several attacks against Israeli army's sites and soldiers, including two attacks against groups of Israeli soldiers in the Shomera and Ya'ra settlements.

Israel has mounted massive airstrikes across Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing at least 1,351 people, injuring over 3,800 others, and displacing more than 1.2 million people.

The aerial campaign is an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of its offensive on the Gaza Strip, in which Israel has killed over 42,100 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.

Despite international warnings that the Mideast was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, it expanded the conflict on Oct. 1 by launching a ground incursion into southern Lebanon.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar