Israel Matzav: IAF hits target near Beirut, PFLP claims they were the target

Friday, August 23, 2013

IAF hits target near Beirut, PFLP claims they were the target

The IAF struck a 'terror target' south of Beirut on Friday morning. The Popular Front for the Liberation of 'Palestine' claims that they were the target, but the IAF is not saying whether that's true. A Sunni group had taken 'credit' for the Katyusha rockets fired at Israel on Thursday that prompted Friday's attack.

"Yesterday’s attack is a blatant breach on Israeli sovereignty that jeopardized Israeli civilian life. Israel will not tolerate terrorist aggression originating from Lebanese territory," the IDF said.
According to the statement, the Israeli air strike was hit the target accurately and announced that all of the pilots involved in the mission returned to Israel safely.

A Palestinian militant group in Lebanon said one of its bases south of Beirut was the target hit by the IAF, but said it caused no injuries or significant damage, Hezbollah-affiliated TV network Al-Manar reported.

The station quoted a spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command as saying the group's base in Na'ameh was attacked. The spokesman said the PFLP-GC was surprised it was targeted because the earlier rocket fire was claimed by a separate al-Qaida-linked Sunni Muslim group.

A Lebanese security source confirmed that a rocket hit an area near Na'ameh, south of the Lebanese capital Beirut, near a network of tunnels used by the PFLP-GC in hills overlooking the Mediterranean coast. He said the rocket caused a 5-meter (16-foot) crater, but no casualties.

Israel said it holds the Lebanese government responsible for the rocket fire that occurred on Thursday, even though a Sunni group called the Abdallah al-Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility for the rockets earlier on Thursday.

Al-Arabiya adds:

[T]he PFLP-GC was surprised it was targeted because the earlier rocket fire was claimed by the Abdullah Azzam Brigades -- an al-Qaeda-linked group which had claimed similar rocket fire on Israel in 2009 and 2011.

Hours after the militants fired four rockets on Israel from Lebanon Thursday, the Jewish state’s air forces carried out an attack against them.

“The IAF (Israeli air force) targeted a terror site located between Beirut and Sidon in response to a barrage of four rockets launched at northern Israel yesterday,” Agence France-Presse quoted a statement from the army as saying.

“The pilots reported direct hits to the target.”

...

Lebanese President Michel Sleiman also denounced the Thursday rocket fire. He said it was a violation of U.N. resolutions and of Lebanese sovereignty and urged security forces to hunt the gunmen and bring them to justice.

Gee, you don't think Sleiman is wetting his pants over the prospect of finding himself in the same position as Fouad Saniora was seven years ago, do you?

Israel did what had to be done. We couldn't just exercise 'restraint' as Obama urged, because if we did, we'd be hit again. But there was no need to go ballistic over a couple of rockets that did no damage. But if this happens again, or if God forbid there is damage, we have sent the message that all hell will break loose.

What could go wrong?

Labels: al-Qaeda, Hezbullah, Katyusha rockets, Southern Lebanon