'Reject use of our soil for any escalation,' says Lebanon PM after rocket attacks on Israel

Lebanon’s prime minister Najib Mikati on Thursday said the country “refuses any escalation from its territory,” condemning the barrage of rockets fired towards Israel from its soil. Mikati said in a statement that Lebanon “rejects the use of its territory to carry out operations that destabilise the situation,” after Israel threatened to retaliate against Palestinian groups it accused of the attack. Meanwhile, the Israeli military has started airstrikes on Gaza. Earlier in the day, a barrage of rockets was fired into Israel from Lebanon. Israeli emergency services reported one man lightly wounded by shrapnel and a female injured while running to a shelter during the attack. The Israeli military said it had “identified 34 rockets that were fired from Lebanese territory into Israeli territory” – the largest escalation along the frontier since Israel and Hezbollah fought a 34-day war in 2006. Twenty-five rockets were intercepted by Israeli air defences, while “five rockets landed in Israeli territory,” added the army statement. Israeli army spokesperson Lt. Colonel Richard Hecht blamed Palestinian groups for the attacks. “We know for sure it’s Palestinian fire,” he told reporters. “It could be Hamas, it could be Islamic Jihad, we are still trying to finalise but it wasn’t Hezbollah. “We assume Hezbollah knew about it, and Lebanon also has some responsibility. We are also investigating whether Iran was involved,” he added. The barrage came after Israeli police raided Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque – Islam’s third-holiest site. The Israeli riot police on Wednesday stormed the prayer hall of Al-Aqsa Mosque in a pre-dawn raid aiming to dislodge “law-breaking youths and masked agitators” they said had barricaded themselves inside. Meanwhile, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said in a cabinet meeting, “We will strike our enemies and they will pay the price for any act of aggression.” UN calls for restraint Warning sirens sounded in the town of Shlomi and in Moshav Betzet and the Galilee in northern Israel, the army said. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which patrols the border area between the two countries that are technically still at war, urged restraint. “The current situation is extremely serious,” said the force. “UNIFIL urges restraint and to avoid further escalation.” The Israeli military denied to AFP that it had retaliated “thus far”, in response to reports from Lebanon’s National News Agency that Israel had struck targets in southern Lebanon. According to the National News Agency report, Israeli artillery fired “several shells from its positions on the border” towards the outskirts of two villages after the launch of “several Katyusha type rockets” at Israel. With inputs from AFP Read all the Latest News, Trending News,  Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.