Early on Friday morning, Israeli soldiers attacked Lebanon after striking Gaza hours earlier in response to a wave of rocket launches following confrontations at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque on Wednesday.
There was a possibility of violent violence in the area during Ramadan, which this year falls around the Jewish Passover holiday, when Israeli police raided the mosque grounds during prayers and even attacked worshippers and Palestinians.
Following police raids at the Al-Aqsa mosque, tensions persisted. Following the rocket assaults on Thursday, the Israeli airport authority even declared the suspension of operations in Haifa and Rosh Pina. Israeli local media also showed smoke pouring in the northern Israeli border town of Shlomi.
In response to rocket assaults from Lebanon that Israeli authorities attributed to the Islamist organisation Hamas, Israel launched airstrikes on Gaza and Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened violent retaliation against his nation’s “enemies” in a televised statement. A few hours later, numerous areas of Gaza were shaken by earth-shattering explosions.
Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Israel’s response, tonight and later, will exact a significant price from our enemies.”
Additionally, the Israeli military claimed to have hit Hamas in southern Lebanon, and residents of the Rashidiyeh refugee camp heard three huge explosions.
It should be emphasised that the missile barrage from Lebanon was considered to be one of the worst since the 2006 conflict between Israeli and Hezbollah soldiers. 25 of the 34 missiles fired from Lebanon, according to Israeli military, were intercepted by the air defence system.
Instead, Najib Mikati, the prime minister of Lebanon, made a statement denouncing any military incursions from its soil. Israeli defence specialists refuted the claim by stating that Lebanon’s army, not any other group, was responsible for the attack. They claimed that although Hezbollah might have been aware of the circumstance, the military was the attack’s original source.
