The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday it had intercepted a rocket fired from Lebanon at the northern border city of Kiryat Shmona, as United Nations peacekeepers stationed along border warned that the ongoing violence between Israel and terror group Hezbollah could dangerously escalate.
The incoming missile was shot down by the Iron Dome air defense system, the IDF said.
Sirens sounded in Kiryat Shmona and nearby communities, though there were no reports of damage or injuries.
The head of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon expressed worries that hostilities on the border with Israel will continue to spiral out of control, calling for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
“The danger of escalation is real,” Aroldo Lazaro said in a statement posted by UNIFIL. “There is no military solution to the current confrontation and violence; a political and diplomatic solution is the only way forward.”
The statement did not mention Hezbollah’s violations of UN Resolution 1701, which requires that the group’s armed wing not be allowed to operate in southern Lebanon.
Israel has threatened to go to war to force the Iran-backed terror group away from the border if it does not retreat in line with that resolution and continues to threaten northern communities, from where some 70,000 people were evacuated to avoid the fighting.
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