On 6 April 2023, dozens of rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel, wounding 3 Israeli civilians. The Israel government alleged that the rockets were fired by Palestinian factions

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

and

Palestinian Islamic Jihad The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine (, ''Harakat al-Jihād al-Islāmi fi Filastīn''), commonly known simply as Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), is a Palestinian Islamist paramilitary organization formed in 1981. PIJ formed as an offsh ...

, with

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

's approval. In the morning of 7 April, the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...

struck targets in

Tyre, Lebanon Tyre (; ; ; ; ) is a city in Lebanon, and one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It was one of the earliest Phoenician metropolises and the legendary birthplace of Europa (cons ...

and in the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

in retaliation. The

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (; ), or UNIFIL (; ) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission established on 19 March 1978 by United Nations Security Council Resolutions United Nations Security Council Resolution 425, 425 and Unit ...

(UNIFIL) described the situation as "extremely serious" and urged restraint. It said UNIFIL chief Aroldo Lazaro was in contact with authorities on both sides. The attacks were the largest escalation between Lebanon and Israel since the

2006 Lebanon War The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, thoug ...

and until the 2023 Israel–Lebanon border clashes.

Background

Palestinian refugees Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country, village or house over the course of the 1948 Palestine war and during the 1967 Six-Day War. Most Palestinian refug ...

have had a long presence in Southern Lebanon, with it being often used as a center to launch rockets into northern Israel. A state of heightened tension existed between Israel and Hamas following the 2023 Al-Aqsa clashes.

Shellings

On 6 April 2023, dozens of rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel, wounding 3 Israeli civilians. The

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

has said that it has intercepted 25 rockets fired from Lebanon. Warning sirens had sounded in the town of Shlomi and in Betzet in northern Israel. According to Israel, the rockets were fired by Palestinian factions

and PIJ with

's approval. On the early morning of 7 April, the

retaliated by striking targets in

and in the

. In a written statement, the

(UNIFIL) described the situation as "extremely serious" and urged restraint. It said UNIFIL chief Aroldo Lazaro was in contact with authorities on both sides. The attacks are the largest escalation between the two countries since the

Involvement of Hezbollah

Hezbollah was alleged by Israel to have given permission for Hamas to fire the rockets, however, Israeli airstrikes did not target Hezbollah positions and Hezbollah has insisted that it will not get involved in "local attacks" by Israel in Lebanon.

Reactions

* Zhai Jun, the special envoy to the Middle East held a conference with envoys of the Arab League of its member states urging "relevant sides to act in accordance with relevant U.N. resolutions, and earnestly respect and maintain the historical status quo of the holy sites in Jerusalem, and shared what China has done to ease the situation," calling for a

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

emergency meeting. *

Prime Minister of Lebanon The prime minister of Lebanon, officially the president of the Council of Ministers, is the head of government and the head of the Council of Ministers of Lebanon. The prime minister is appointed by the president of Lebanon, with the consen ...

Najib Mikati Najib Azmi Mikati (born 24 November 1955) is a Lebanese politician and businessman who served as the 52nd prime minister of Lebanon from 2021 to 2025. He previously served in this post as the 48th and 45th prime minister from 2011 to 2014 and i ...

condemned the rockets fired towards Israel from its soil. He added that Lebanon rejects the use of its territory to carry out operations that destabilise the situation. The Lebanese Government and UNIFIL also began investigating the source of the rocket attacks. * The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France condemned the rocket strikes against Israeli territory. * Greece's Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the launch of rockets against Israel, and called for both sides to avoid further escalation of conflict. *

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

Spokesman Nasser Kanaani strongly condemned the attacks in Southern Lebanon and the

. * The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union, and Cooperation of Spain condemned the rocket attacks against Israel, and calls for restraint to prevent violence. * The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar condemned Israeli aggression in Southern Lebanon and the

. * The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine condemned the usage of rockets against Israel, and expressed deep concern for the region. * Foreign Secretary

James Cleverly Sir James Spencer Cleverly (born 4 September 1969) is a British politician and Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Army Reserve Commissioned officer, officer who served as Home Secretary from November 2023 to July 2024 and as Foreign Secretary (Unit ...

condemned the rocket strikes against Israel and recognized its right to self-defend. *

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel stated "We condemn the launch of rockets from Lebanon and Gaza. Our commitment to Israel’s security is ironclad. We recognize Israel’s legitimate right to defend itself against all forms of aggression." According to ''

The Times of Israel ''The Times of Israel'' (ToI) is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012 and has since become the largest English-language Jewish and Israeli news source by audience size. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist Dav ...

'', the "

Biden administration Joe Biden's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 46th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Joe Biden, his inauguration on January 20, 2021, and ended on January 20, 2025. Biden, a member of the Democr ...

had blocked the UN Security Council from issuing a statement on the latest uptick in violence, fearing that it would be used to draw an equivalency between its actions and those of terror groups."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Israel-Lebanon shellings, 2023 2023 in international relations April 2023 in Lebanon April 2023 in Israel Attacks in Asia in 2023 Cross-border operations into Israel Hezbollah–Israel conflict Hamas attacks Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine attacks History of Tyre, Lebanon 2023 airstrikes Lebanon–Palestine relations Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon

Background

Shellings

Involvement of Hezbollah

Reactions

See also

References