Shots From Syria Into Israel Sunday

Gunshots were fired from Syria at a car in the North on Sunday evening, the second incident of cross-border violence since the start of Operation Cast lead a little over two weeks ago.

From The Jerusalem Post

The IDF said the car was carrying civilians and no one was hurt, though the vehicle suffered some damage. The shots were seemingly aimed at Israeli soldiers doing engineering work along the border.

The army assessed that the Syrian army was not involved in the incident. More likely, it believes Palestinian terrorists fired the shots to protest Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip and cause tensions on a second front.

Shortly after the incident, Israel filed a complaint with UNDOF, the UN observer agency in Syria.

In another cross-border attack last Thursday, two people in a retirement village were lightly wounded when three Katyusha rockets slammed into the northern city of Nahariya. Shortly after the rocket strikes, Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said that his organization had no part in the attack.

At the cabinet meeting on Sunday, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin warned ministers that while Syria and Hizbullah had so far refrained from entering the fight and launching attacks on Israel while it was distracted with its operation in the Gaza Strip, Iran was working hard to push them into action.

Yaakov Katz and AP contributed to this report.

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Rockets From Lebanon Hit Inside Israel Thursday, Day 13

Forces inside  Lebanaon fired rickets into Israel on Thursday.

The Northern Command of Israel’s military said  the salvo was probably fired by Palestinian terror groups and not by Hezbollah.

But an Israeli military official added, “Nothing happens in Lebanon with a green light from Hezbollah.  Even if it was a Palestinian group who fired the rockets, Hezbollah would have to at least have turned a blind eye to allow the rocket fire.”

CNN said that four rockets struck northern Israel from Lebanon on Thursday, wounding two people, Israeli police and emergency medical services said.

 
An Israeli firefighter looks at the damage made after a rocket fired from Lebanon hit a building in the northern Israeli coastal town of Nahariya, Thursday Jan. 8, 2009. Lebanese militants fired at least three rockets into northern Israel early Thursday, striking a crowded nursing home and threatening to open a second front for the Jewish state as it pushed forward with its bloody offensive in the Gaza Strip.(AP Photo/Yaron Kaminsky)

The Lebanese Army issued a statement, saying the rockets were launched by “an unknown group.”

Israel returned fire which Lebanon said inflicted no casualties.

Israel now faces the real possibility that its military will be engaged in a two front war.

“While people like [French President] Sarkozy were talking about our rough treatment of Hamas, they were completely ignoring Iran, Hezbollah, the massive anti-Israel protests in Beirut and elsewhere,” an Israel official complained.

“Where is the international cease-fire effort in Lebanon today?”

But that clashed with what we heard from the official Israeli spokesman just a few hour before.

“From Israel’s perspective, there’s no contradiction between pursuing the military targets in Gaza and working in parallel on the diplomatic track,” said Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev. He added that “a weaker Hamas is a Hamas that’s easier to contain” under any negotiated cease-fire.

John E. Carey
Peace and Freedom

Related:
Attack On Israel From Lebanon Confirms Threats From Iran, May Open Second Front
.
Israel Warns Lebanon, “Terrorists Trying To Widen War”

Related: CNN:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/me
ast/01/08/israel.rockets/index.html

Jerusalem Post:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=12
31167307373&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

The Associated Press Reported:

Rockets From Lebanon Threaten Second Front For Israel

Israel has repeatedly said it was prepared for a possible attack on the north since it launched its bruising campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza on Dec. 27. Israel has mobilized thousands of reserve troops for such a scenario, and leaders have warned Hezbollah of dire consequences if it enters the fighting.

Read the rest:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090108/ap_on_re_mi_ea/m
l_israel_palestinians;_ylt=ApvZk0Wx4ZuqfZYjM8YTXKms0NUE