Israeli artillery and air strikes hit south Lebanon on Saturday after Israel said it had intercepted rockets fired from across the border, endangering a shaky truce that ended a year-long war between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
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That conflict marked the deadliest spillover of the Gaza war, rumbling across the border for months before a blistering Israeli offensive that wiped out Hezbollah’s top commanders, many of its fighters and much of its arsenal.
Hezbollah denied responsibility for Saturday’s strikes, saying it had “no link” to the rocket launches and that it remained committed to the ceasefire. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
An Israeli official said that the identity of the group which fired the rockets was still unconfirmed. Six rockets were fired, the official said, three of which crossed into Israel and were intercepted.
Saturday’s exchange was the first since Israel in effect abandoned a separate ceasefire in Gaza with Palestinian militant group Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah, both backed by Israel’s arch-foe Iran.
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The Israeli military said early on Saturday it had intercepted three rockets launched from a Lebanese district about six kilometres (four miles) north of the border towards the Israeli border town of Metula, the second cross-border launch since the US-brokered ceasefire in November ended fighting.