Lebanese authorities detain people they say were planning rocket attacks on Israel
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese authorities have detained several people who were allegedly planning to launch rockets into Israel and confiscated the weapons, the military said Sunday.
The army said that the arrests were linked to other detentions announced earlier this week. It added that as military intelligence was investigating that case they got information that a new rocket attack was being planned.
The army said troops raided an apartment near the southern port city of Sidon and confiscated some of the rockets and the launchers and detained several people who were involved in the operation. It said they were referred to judicial authorities.
Authorities on Wednesday detained several people, including a number of Palestinians, who were allegedly involved in firing rockets toward Israel in two separate attacks in late March that triggered intense Israeli airstrikes on parts of Lebanon. Lebanon’s Hezbollah group denied at the time that it was behind the firing of rockets.
Meanwhile on Sunday, a series of Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed two people, the Lebanese Civil Defense said in a statement. Another person was killed after a Lebanese army vehicle was hit by an explosion in circumstances that were unclear, it said.
Since a November ceasefire ended a 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah, Israeli airstrikes have killed scores of people in Lebanon including civilians and Hezbollah members. Israel says it’s targeting Hezbollah holdouts in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said Friday that its fighters will not disarm as long as Israeli troops remain in southern Lebanon and the Israeli air force regularly violates Lebanese air space.
