Report: Bin Laden ordered Israel attack

JERUSALEM, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- An al-Qaida-associated Web site claims Osama bin Laden ordered the rocket attacks fired from Lebanon on Galilee in Israel two weeks ago.

The site regularly posts statements and videos by al-Qaida's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab Zarqawi, Ha'aretz newspaper reported.

"The rockets launched from north of Lebanon in December to the ancestors of monkeys and pigs are nothing but the beginning of a deep blow against the Zionist enemy. All of these are done upon the directives of ... Sheik Osama bin Laden," said the voice attributed to Zarqawi.

Reuven Paz, an expert in fundamentalist Islamic movements, told the newspaper the claim was credible.

"We are most certainly witnessing efforts by al-Qaida ... to strike at Israel," he said. "We may also be seeing the beginnings of the rallying of al-Qaida supporters in the Gaza Strip."