Lebanon rockets raise fears of new conflict

In what appears to be a serious escalation of the current conflict in the Middle East, four rockets hit northern Israel from Lebanon early Thursday, and Israeli troops patrolling the border returned mortar fire into Lebanon, according to a military source.

Israel's Haaretz newspaper reports that at least one rocket hit the Nahariya area, north of the city of Haifa, wounding at least two people.

If the rockets were fired by Hezbollah militia, it is the first instance of cross-border activity since the end of the 34-day war in 2006. During that conflict, which was sparked by the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers, Hezbollah sent more than 4,000 rockets into northern Israel.

More than 1,200 Lebanese, most of them civilians, died and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers, were killed.

The rocket attack comes on the first day after the ten-day Muslim festival of Ashura, which - as reported on The First Post - was used by Hezbollah to whip up anti-Israel feeling over its bombardment of Gaza among the Shia population.

Most observers of the Lebanon scene have been predicting that Hezbollah would not want Lebanon to be drawn into the Gaza conflict, despite its links with Hamas.

Hezbollah made no immediate comment on the rocket attacks. It is possible that Palestinian radicals, who have a presence in southern Lebanon, fired the rockets without Hezbollah's blessing.

FIRST POSTED JANUARY 8, 2009