Israel has carried out air raids in southern Lebanon, focusing on what it stated had been positions of the Palestinian group Hamas.

The Israeli military stated the bombardment within the early hours of Friday was in response to a barrage of rockets fired by Hamas in Lebanon the day before today. Individually, it launched air assaults in a single day on the besieged Gaza Strip, which is run by Hamas.

The firing of rockets come after Israeli police attacked Palestinians worshippers inside Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque for the second night time in a row this week.

Right here’s what it’s worthwhile to know.

What occurred?

The Israeli navy tweeted on Thursday that 34 rockets had been fired from Lebanon, with 25 intercepted, and not less than 4 touchdown in Israel. It was the primary rockets fired from Lebanon in the direction of Israel since final April and the largest launch since Israel and Lebanon’s highly effective Shia motion Hezbollah fought a conflict in 2006.

Medics in Israel stated three folks had been injured within the rocket fireplace, together with a 19-year-old man with shrapnel accidents in gentle situation and a 60-year-old girl injured whereas operating to a close-by shelter. A number of others had been handled for shock.

Israel’s military introduced in a brief assertion at 4:07am (01:07 GMT) on Friday that it “is at present putting in Lebanon”. A Lebanese TV station reported explosions close to a Palestinian refugee camp within the southern port metropolis of Tyre.

No casualties had been reported and most missiles fell in open areas.

The Lebanese authorities stated its troops and United Nations peacekeepers had launched an investigation to search out the perpetrators.

On Friday, the Lebanese military stated in an announcement it had positioned a rocket launcher, together with a number of rockets, within the city of Marjaajoun, close to the Israeli border.

Who fired the rockets?

There was no fast declare of duty for the rocket fireplace, which got here amid assaults by Israeli forces on Palestinian worshippers at Al-Aqsa this week that led to regional and international condemnation of Israel.

The Israeli military stated it believed the rocket fireplace was “a Palestinian-oriented occasion”, connecting to the violence in Jerusalem.

Israeli navy spokesman Richard Hecht stated both Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, each of that are primarily based in Gaza but in addition function in Lebanon, might be concerned. He added the military believed that Hezbollah and the Lebanese authorities had been conscious of what occurred and in addition held duty.

Individually, one other military spokesman, Avichay Adraee, wrote on Twitter, “We’re investigating the opportunity of Iran’s involvement within the rocket fireplace from Lebanon,” Adraee added on Twitter.

Each Hamas and Hezbollah are Iranian allies and not too long ago introduced a joint operations room.

However Hamas consultant in Lebanon Ahmed Abdel Hadi informed Lebanese An-Nahar newspaper the group doesn’t have “any info in regards to the rockets” that had been launched in the direction of Israel.

“Safety sources say Palestinian teams – lots of that are armed and confined to camps – had been behind the incident,” Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr reported from Tyre.

“Some analysts say they couldn’t have acted with out the information and backing of Hezbollah,” she stated, noting that the Lebanese group “holds sway” within the nation’s south.

Mohanad Hage Ali, of the Carnegie Center East Heart, informed Al Jazeera that over the previous few years “numerous Hamas officers and representatives present up in Lebanon and in addition to a sure extent [have] Beirut as a base for his or her presence”.

Al Jazeera reached out to a number of Hamas officers within the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, in addition to to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, but it surely was not doable to get a remark.

A Lebanese safety official, who spoke to The Related Press information company on the situation of anonymity as a result of he was not authorised to talk to media, stated the nation’s safety forces believed the rockets had been launched by a Lebanon-based Palestinian armed group, not by Hezbollah.

May it’s about one thing else?

The escalation got here after Israel, in latest weeks, stepped up its aerial assaults in opposition to Iranian targets in neighbouring Syria.

The Iranian authorities, in a uncommon acknowledgement, stated final week two of its navy advisers had been killed in an Israeli assault close to Damascus and stated it reserved the precise to reply at an applicable time.

There have additionally been different incidents not too long ago which have heightened tensions, together with the alleged infiltration of an armed man suspected of getting into Israel from Lebanon final month and blowing up a automobile at a junction, in response to the Israeli military.

What has the response been?

Hezbollah has not condemned the rocket fireplace. Its deputy chief, Sheikh Naim Qassem, stated in a Twitter publish the group was “vigilant” after Thursday’s alternate of fireplace over the Lebanon-Israel border.

However caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati warned in opposition to Lebanon’s territory getting used for acts that might threaten safety within the nation.

“Lebanon completely rejects any navy escalation emanating from its land, and using Lebanese territory to hold out operations that will destabilise the present stability,” Mikati stated.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged a troublesome response.

“We will strike our enemies and they’re going to pay the value for any act of aggression,” he stated at first of a safety cupboard assembly in Jerusalem on Thursday night.

Iran, in the meantime, condemned the Israeli assaults in Lebanon and Gaza and known as for motion by worldwide our bodies, in response to state media.

Iranian overseas ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani stated the ministry “strongly condemned the assaults … as a violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and a gross violation of worldwide legislation and human rights of the oppressed Palestinian nation, and known as for an efficient response by … world our bodies”, state media stated.