JERUSALEM — The Israeli Army fired several artillery rounds into southern Lebanon early Tuesday in a brief response to rockets fired into Israel hours earlier by militants in the neighboring nation. One rocket from Lebanon was intercepted by an Israeli missile defense system, known as Iron Dome, while a second fell without causing damage. No faction in Lebanon claimed responsibility for the rockets, but an Israeli military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said officials believed the rockets had been fired by Palestinian militants based in Lebanon. The incident underscored the fragility of the situation on the Israeli-Lebanese border, where there are regular tensions between the Israeli military and Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Shia militia that holds sway across much of southern Lebanon and does not recognize Israeli sovereignty. There are also occasional attacks by Lebanon-based Palestinian militants.

Source: International New York Times July 20, 2021 09:33 UTC