Israel launched rare strikes in southern Lebanon early Friday and pressed on with bombing targets in the Gaza Strip, marking a widening escalation in the region following violence this week at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site.
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The cross-border fighting erupted during a time of heightened religious fervor – when Jews are celebrating the Passover holiday and Muslims are marking the Ramadan holy month. In 2021, an escalation also triggered by clashes at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, spilled over into an 11-day war between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers.
Friday's strikes in southern Lebanon came a day after terrorists fired nearly three dozen rockets from there at Israel, wounding two people and causing some property damage. The Israeli military said it targeted installations of Hamas, the Palestinian terror group, in southern Lebanon.
Associated Press correspondents in the area said several missiles fired by Israeli warplanes struck an open field in the town of Qalili near the Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidiyeh, close to the coastal southern city of Tyre, while others struck a bridge and power transformer in the nearby town of Maaliya and a farm on the outskirts of Rashidiyeh, killing several sheep. No human deaths were reported.
Israeli strikes in Lebanon risk drawing Lebanon's Hezbollah terrorists into the fighting, which could lead to war. The Iran-backed group, armed with thousands of rockets and missiles, holds sway over much of southern Lebanon and is viewed by Israel as a bitter foe.
The Israeli military was careful to note in its announcement about Friday's attack that it was targeting only sites linked to Palestinian terrorists. In recent years, Hezbollah has stayed out of other flareups related to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which stands on a hilltop revered by Muslims and Jews.
In Jerusalem before dawn prayers on Friday, violence erupted again at the hilltop compound as Israeli police stationed at one of the gates have had to contain Palestinian rioters in recent days who have used the area for provocations and violence. The police forces dispersed vast crowds of worshippers who chanted praise for Hamas while pushing their way into the limestone courtyard.
The head of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, Maj. Gen. Aroldo Lázaro, said he was in contact with Israeli and Lebanese authorities early Friday. The force, known as UNIFIL, said that both sides have said they do not want war.
Meanwhile, Israeli air strikes on Gaza resumed early Friday, after terrorists fired more rockets from the territory, setting off air raid alerts in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon. The military said targets included the entry shaft to an underground network used for weapons manufacturing.
The current round of violence began Wednesday after Israeli police responded to terrorists on Temple Mount who fired fireworks and threw rocks at them while refusing to clear the area overnight, according to the rules. That led Thursday to rocket fire from Gaza and, in a significant escalation, the rocket barrage from Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his Security Cabinet for a three-hour meeting late Thursday. "Israel's response, tonight and beyond, will extract a heavy price from our enemies," he said in a statement after the meeting.
Almost immediately, Palestinian terrorists in Gaza began firing rockets into southern Israel, setting off air raid sirens across the region. Loud explosions could be heard in Gaza from the Israeli strikes, as outgoing rockets whooshed into the skies toward Israel. For now, Palestinian terrorists have fired only short-range rockets from Gaza, rather than the long-range projectiles that can reach as far as Tel Aviv and typically invite harsher Israeli retaliation.
The Israeli military said the rocket fire on its northern and southern fronts was carried out by Palestinian terrorists in connection to this week's violence at Al-Aqsa where Israeli police stormed into the building with tear gas and stun grenades to confront Palestinians barricaded inside on two straight days. The violent scenes from the mosque ratcheted up tensions across the region.
In a briefing with reporters, Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli military spokesman, said the army drew a clear connection between the Lebanese rocket fire and the recent unrest in Jerusalem.
"It's a Palestinian-oriented event," he said, adding that either the Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant groups, which are based in Gaza but also operate in Lebanon, could be involved. But he said the army believed that Hezbollah and the Lebanese government were aware of what happened and also held responsibility.
Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the firing of rockets from Lebanon, adding that Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers were investigating and trying to find the perpetrators. Mikati said his government "categorically rejects any military escalation" and the use of Lebanese territories to stage acts that threaten stability.
The current escalation comes against the backdrop of Netanyahu's domestic problems. For the past three months, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have been demonstrating against his plans to overhaul the country's judicial system, claiming it will lead the country toward authoritarianism.
Netanyahu said that the domestic divisions had no impact on national security and that the country would remain united in the face of external threats.
Tensions have simmered along the Lebanese border as Israel appears to have ratcheted up its shadow war against Iranian-linked targets in Syria, another close ally of Iran, Israel's archenemy in the region.
Suspected Israeli airstrikes in Syria in recent weeks have killed two Iranian military advisers and temporarily put the country's two largest airports out of service. Hecht, the military spokesman, said Thursday's rocket fire was not believed to be connected to events in Syria.
In Washington, the principal deputy State Department spokesman, Vedant Patel, said, "Israel has legitimate security concerns and has every right to defend themselves." But he also urged calm in Jerusalem, saying that "any unilateral action that jeopardizes the status quo to us is unacceptable," he said.
In Jerusalem, the situation remained tense at Al-Aqsa. For the previous two nights, Palestinians barricaded themselves in the mosque with stones and firecrackers.
Israel did not try to prevent people from spending the night in the mosque early Friday – apparently because it was the weekend, when Jews do not visit the compound. But tensions could re-ignite Sunday when Jewish visits resume.
Israel bars ritual slaughter on the site, but calls by Jewish extremists to revive the practice, including offers of cash rewards to anyone who even attempts to bring an animal into the compound, have amplified fears among Muslims that Israel is plotting to take over the site
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