BEIRUT, Lebanon, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Troop reinforcements have been sent to southern Lebanon after rocket and artillery fire were exchanged with Israel Saturday, Lebanese military officials said.
The Lebanese Army Command said in a statement that troop reinforcements along with international peacekeepers were deployed to southern Lebanon after hostilities began with "a suspicious party" firing several rockets from a region south of the port city of Tyre in the direction of Israel, KUNA, the Kuwait News Agency, reported.
"The Israeli enemy after the firing of the rockets attacked Lebanon with eight artillery shells that exploded in the vicinity of Quleileh-Almansouri axis," the statement said.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora told reporters that the firing of the rockets and the Israeli retaliation constituted violation of U.N. resolution 1701.
The Palestinian militant group Hezbollah denied firing the rockets into Israel, as did the Palestinian Fatah movement in Lebanon. KUNA reported, saying Lebanese Army troops had located the two rocket launchers that were used for firing the missiles into Israel.
Three members of an Israeli family residing in the western Galilee region home sustained mild injuries in the Katyusha rocket attack, and two more suffered from shock, Ynetnews.com reported. Officials said the wounded were treated by Magen David Adom paramedics and then evacuated to a hospital in Nahariya.
Unnamed sources told the Web site the 122-millimeter rockets may have been discharged prematurely due to a technical malfunctions resulting from inclement weather conditions.
