Israel Hit By Rockets Fired From Lebanon Barrage Appears Response To Israeli Artillery Attack

Northern Israel was hit today with a barrage of rockets fired from Lebanon, a day after Israeli-backed militiamen killed six civilians in an attack on the southern Lebanese city of Sidon.

Ambulances were rushed to the city of Qiryat Shmoneh after the barrages began in the north about 7 a.m. More than 16 rockets fell in the first attack, and residents rushed to shelters.

One Israeli was wounded lightly, Israel Radio reported. It said other injuries were being reported.

“We’ve heard there have been direct hits on houses,” said Shmuel Abutbul, the head of the Magen David Adom ambulance station in Qiryat Shmoneh.

Israel’s Channel 2 television reported rockets fell throughout the northern panhandle and on Qiryat Shmoneh. Israel Radio said the shells feel deeper inside Israel than in the past.

The TV showed pictures of an apartment struck by a rocket in Qiryat Shmoneh.

It was not clear who fired the rockets.

On Monday, Israeli-backed militiamen fired artillery shells into southern Lebanon’s provincial capital, killing six people and injuring 35 - apparently in retaliation for the deaths of two children.

The Lebanese army - which has largely stayed out of the fighting in the south - retaliated with artillery barrages, threatening to widen the conflict.

Israeli military sources said Israel-backed South Lebanon Army militiamen fired the shells from outside the zone Israel occupies in southern Lebanon, apparently to avenge the deaths of a 12-year-old Lebanese girl and her 16-year-old brother killed in a roadside bombing earlier in the day.

The children were killed near Jezzine, a Christian town about 10 miles east of Sidon that is controlled by the SLA militia.

There was no immediate comment from the SLA command, which previously has threatened reprisal for guerrilla attacks.

Hezbollah, the main guerrilla group fighting the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, blamed Israel for the shelling and threatened to retaliate by firing rockets into northern Israel.

But Israel’s army spokesman Brig. Gen. Oded Ben Ami, denied Israeli troops were involved. Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai expressed “his deepest regret over the attack on innocent civilians in Lebanon.”