Rocket fire from Lebanon disrupts months of relative calm in Israel’s north

There are concerns of a resumption of conflict on other fronts grow as fighting continues in Gaza.

Smoke billows from the site of Israeli artillery shelling that targeted the area of the southern Lebanese village of Yohmor on March 22. Picture: Rabih Daher AFP

Militants in Lebanon exchanged fire with Israel on Saturday morning, further expanding the fighting in the wake of Israel’s renewed assault on the Gaza Strip.

Three rockets were fired from Lebanon toward a community in northern Israel, the first attack of its kind in months. The salvo followed a string of near-daily missile attacks on Israel by the Houthi militia in Yemen, including another one overnight.

Israel’s military said it intercepted the rockets from Lebanon and would respond, shortly before its radio station reported it the military had engaged in artillery fire.

Israel also said it intercepted the missile fired from Yemen. No one claimed responsibility for the attacks from Lebanon, where Israel fought a sharp conflict with militant group Hezbollah before forcing it into a ceasefire last fall.

Concerns have grown that the renewed attacks on the Gaza Strip could reignite fighting on other fronts that had been quieted in recent months.

Israel launched a wave of deadly air strikes against Hamas militants in Gaza this week, saying the group had failed to meet a demand to release the hostages it is holding there, and followed up with ground incursions and a threat to permanently occupy territory.

The attacks shattered a two-month ceasefire that had led to the return of 33 Israeli hostages or their bodies in exchange for freeing more than 1,700 Palestinian prisoners. Hamas says Israel has failed to meet its commitments to begin negotiations over returning the remaining hostages in exchange for a permanent end to the war.

Around two dozen hostages are believed to be alive in Gaza, along with the bodies of 35 others.

Shortly after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel that left around 1,200 dead, some 250 taken hostage and sparked the war in Gaza, Hezbollah, the Houthis and other Islamic militant groups began attacking Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Although it originated on the sidelines of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah overtook that conflict in intensity in September, as Israel launched a wave of clandestine attacks on Hezbollah’s rank and file and a bombing campaign targeting its arsenal and leadership.

Israel and Lebanon signed an agreement in November to end the fighting, which had battered Hezbollah and decimated swathes of Lebanon’s south and capital city. At its peak, the conflict displaced more than a million Lebanese, along with tens of thousands of Israelis.

Israel shelled southern Lebanon shortly after the projectiles were fired Saturday, according to Israel’s state-owned Army Radio. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he instructed the country’s military to respond and that Israel would continue to hold Lebanon responsible for militant activity emanating from its soil.

“The government of Lebanon carries the responsibility for all fire from its territory,” Katz said.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Saturday warned against renewed fighting, saying it could drag the country into a devastating new war, according to state-run media.

The Wall Street Journal