By Stan Goodenough
Jun 17, 2007
Two out of three Katyusha rockets fired out of southern Lebanon slammed into the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shemona Sunday, causing damage but no injuries.
They were the first Katyushas fired from southern Lebanon since the ceasefire took hold after Israel’s war against the Lebanese Hizb’allah last summer.
The leadership of that Iranian-backed terror group quickly denied being behind the attack, and Israeli officials seemed to concur, with one stating that a “renegade” Palestinian Arab group may have been responsible.
Reports said the attackers had launched the rockets from an area close to United Nations outposts in southern Lebanon.
The United Nations presence in the area is meant to prevent such attacks and follow up on any that take place.
Notwithstanding Hizb’allah’s denial, sporadic rocket firings out of the area last year preceded the eruption of the war and were believed by some to have been “test firings” in preparation for that conflict.
Hizb’allah also denied some of those strikes.
Speculation includes the possibility that “Palestinians” sympathetic to Hamas’ violent takeover of the Gaza Strip last week had launched the attack.