Israel’s northern border fell quiet over the weekend after being targeted by rocket attacks fired by the Islamic fundamentalist Hezbollah movement operating in southern Lebanon.
At least three separate waves of Katyusha rockets were fired by Hezbollah at northern Israel from Oct. 20-21.
No casualties were reported from the shelling. Which drove Israelis into bomb shelters and reinforced rooms, but one home was damaged by a direct hit and fields in the Galilee region were set on fire.
According to Israeli news reports, U.S. government officials had urged Syria, the leading power broker in Lebanon, to halt the rocket attacks.
Hezbollah officials said the rocket assaults came in reprisal for the Israeli shelling on Oct. 19 of the Lebanese town of Nabatiya, a town of 60,000 located north of the security zone that Israel maintains in southern Lebanon.
Israeli officials said the shelling had been ordered to stop a suspected Hezbollah terror squad from infiltrating into Israel.
According to Lebanese reports, seven civilians were killed in the shelling of Nabatiya.
On Sunday, Israeli officials described last week’s shelling of a home in Nabatiya as “mistake.”
The Israel Defense Force commander in charge of the northern sector, Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Mordechai, said that IDF troops had not meant to harm civilians. But he added that Hezbollah guerrilla forces should not seek shelter in civilian areas.
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