Beirut, April 7 (IANS) Lebanon rejects any military escalation from its lands and the use of Lebanese territories to carry out operations that may jeopardise the country’s stability, said Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
Mikati’s remarks on Thursday came following the rocket attacks launched from Lebanon at Israel, hours after Israeli police forces raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City for a second consecutive day, triggering fresh clashes with Palestinian worshippers.
“Lebanon is committed to UN Resolution 1701 and the close coordination between the Lebanese Army and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL),” the Lebanese Prime Minister was quoted as saying in a statement released by the Council of Ministers.
Meanwhile, the UNIFIL issued orders to civilian and military staff to resort to shelters inside their bases amid the escalation on the Lebanese-Israeli border, Xinhua news agency reported.
“UNIFIL’s peacekeepers continue to perform their duties and do everything they can during this day of an explosive and dangerous situation,” the UNIFIL said in a statement released by the National News Agency.
On Thursday evening, three new rockets were fired from the Lebanese district of Marjeyoun into northern Israel. It came after dozens of rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon, prompting the Israeli Army to shell the outskirts of the southern Lebanese town of al-Qulayla with artillery.
This was one of the worst rocket attacks at northern Israel since the full-fledged war between Israel and Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese group, in 2006.
Israel accused Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, of being behind the rocket attacks launched from Lebanon after Hezbollah denied doing so.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Thursday that the Palestinian resistance factions will not stand idle facing Israeli aggression against the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Lebanese Elnashra news website reported.
Following his meeting with Palestinian resistance factions in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, Haniyeh added that the Israeli government is fully responsible for the “brutal aggression” against Al-Aqsa Mosque and the worshippers.
Israeli police forces raided for a second consecutive day the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, firing gas canisters and stun grenades at Palestinian worshipers.
–IANS
int/khz/
