Lebanon detains several people on suspicion of firing rockets at Israel

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BEIRUT (AP) — The Lebanese military said it has detained a group of people linked to firing rockets into Israel last month.

The army said in a statement late Wednesday that those detained included a number of Palestinians who were involved in firing rockets in two separate attacks toward Israel in late March that triggered intense Israeli airstrikes on parts of Lebanon. Lebanon’s Hezbollah group denied at the time it was behind the firing of rockets.

Since the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire in late November ended their 14-month conflict, Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes that left dozens of civilians and Hezbollah members dead.

The army said that a vehicle and other equipment used in the rockets attacks were confiscated and the detainees were referred to judicial authorities. The army said it had carried out raids in different parts of Lebanon to detain the suspects without giving further details.

On Thursday, the state-run National News Agency reported that Gen. Rodolph Haikal briefed a weekly cabinet meeting about the security situation along the border and the ongoing implementation of the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war.

Three security and one judicial officials told The Associated Press that four Palestinians linked to the Hamas group are being questioned.

A Hamas official told the AP that several members of the group were detained in Lebanon recently and released shortly afterward adding that they were not involved in firing rockets into Israel. He said in one case authorities detained a Hamas member who was carrying an unlicensed pistol.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Hezbollah started launching attacks on Israel a day after the Israel-Hamas war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, with the Palestinian militants’ attack on southern Israel. The war that left more than 4,000 people dead in Lebanon and caused wide destruction ended in late November with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire.

On Tuesday, the office of the U.N. high commissioner for human rights said that at least 71 civilians, including 14 women and nine children, have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since a ceasefire took effect.

Lebanese Information Minister Paul Morcos said Thursday in a press conference following a cabinet meeting that Lebanon has recorded 2,740 Israeli violations of the ceasefire and that 190 people have been killed and 485 injured in Lebanon by Israeli strikes since the ceasefire began. He did not specify how many were civilians.

Israel has said that its strikes in Lebanon are in response to ceasefire violations by Hezbollah and to prevent the group from rearming.