Al-Qaida-linked group claims Katyusha attack

Terror group says it fired 2 rockets at "Nahariya settlement in the north of occupied Palestine."

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Katyushas prepared for launch 248.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
Katyushas prepared for launch 248.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
A terror group said to be affiliated with al-Qaida claimed Monday morning that it had launched Friday's attack on northern Israel in which two Katyusha rockets landed near Nahariya. "Your brothers fired two Katyusha rockets from south Lebanon which landed in the Nahariya settlement in the north of occupied Palestine," read a statement on terrorist Web sites quoted by Reuters. The statement cited Israel's Gaza blockade and the restrictions on Muslims wishing to pray at the Temple Mount's Aksa Mosque. The statement was signed by the Ziad al-Jarrah division of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, and the statement's headline linked the organization to al-Qaida, said Reuters. On Saturday, Lebanese media reported that the rockets were fired by four men who arrived to a village near Tyre by pick-up truck, positioned the rockets on launchers, set up timers and escaped. The IDF fired about 15 artillery shells at the source of the shooting immediately afterward. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned Lebanon on Sunday that Jerusalem held the Beirut government responsible for any attack on Israel. "We view this very gravely," Netanyahu told the cabinet regrading Friday's Katyusha fire. "We will not hold back when Israeli territory comes under fire, and will not reconcile ourselves to missile fire or any other form of terror directed at Israeli citizens." "We see it [Lebanon] responsible for all these violations and hostilities directed at our territory that originate from Lebanese soil," he added. AP contributed to this report