Lebanon detains several people on suspicion of firing rockets at Israel

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 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 terrorist 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 terrorists 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 terrorist group are being questioned.

The Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas-led terrorists attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Most of the hostages have since been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Of the 59 hostages still in captivity in Gaza, Israel believes 35 are dead.

Israel’s offensive has since killed over 51,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Meanwhile, an intense series of suspected U.S. airstrikes hit sites across Yemen held by the Houthi terrorists into Thursday morning, with at least one person reportedly being killed in the capital, Sanaa.

The strikes took place around multiple governorates in the country overnight, with the Houthis providing few details about the sites hit. The U.S. military’s Central Command has provided no specifics on targets as well in its campaign, which has been hitting sites in Yemen since March 15.

The U.S military has been conducting strikes from the aircraft carriers the USS Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea and the USS Carl Vinson, now in the Arabian Sea. The U.S. also has stationed stealth B-2 bombers in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, which likely also are being used in the strikes.