Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
Overview
1. On the afternoon of September 11, 2009, two-three 122mm rockets were fired from near the town of Qulaylah (in the western sector of south Lebanon) at the Western Galilee, falling in an open field. There were no casualties and no damage was done. In response the IDF launched approximately ten shells at the source of the rocket fire and sent in attack helicopters. (IDF Spokesman, September 11, 2009). A network affiliated with the global jihad, calling itself the Ziad al-Jarrah division of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, claimed responsibility for the attack.
2. Immediately after the rocket attack, UNIFIL forces (the Italian battalion) and the Lebanese army searched the area (a favorite spot for terrorists attacking Israel) for the rocket launchers. In addition, road blocks were set up and vehicles were searched (Lebanese News Agency, September 11, 2009). According to Agence France-Presse, civilians reported having seen a pickup truck carrying three rockets leaving Qulaylah, and four men were later seen positioning them and then fleeing the area (Agence France-Presse, September 11, 2009). A UNIFIL spokesperson called on both sides to show restraint and said that UNIFIL had begun an investigation of the circumstances of the rocket fire (Press TV, September 11, 2009).
3. This was the fifth rocket attack since the second Lebanon war (2006), and was carried out by a network affiliated with the global jihad (which may have chosen September 11 as a symbolic date).1 Hezbollah, for its part, has not fired Katyusha rockets at Israel since the war and focuses its efforts on rebuilding its damaged military infrastructure, a gross violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 (as was recently illustrated by the explosion of its weapons storehouse in the village of Khirbet Silim).
Responses
Lebanon
4. On September 14, 2009, an Internet forum affiliated with Al-Qaeda stated that a network called the Abdallah Azzam Brigades was responsible for the rocket fire. Hezbollah has so far not issued a response. The heads of the Lebanese government denounced the rocket fire into Israel as well as the IDF’s return fire, emphasizing Lebanon’s adherence to UN Security Council Resolution 1701:
i) Fuad Siniora, interim prime minister, condemned the rocket fire, calling it “a serious event.” However, he also criticized Israel, saying its response went beyond coordination with UNIFIL (Al-Nashra website, September 11, 2009).
ii) Fawzi Saluh, interim foreign minister, also criticized the event, particularly Israel’s response. He claimed that Lebanon implemented Resolution 1701 in collaboration with UNIFIL (Lebanese News Agency, September 11, 2009).
iii) Michel Aoun, head of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc, said that he was convinced Hezbollah was not behind the attack because the organization did not want to cause an incident with Israel, but that Israel is the one who wanted to provoke incidents with Lebanon (Al-Nashra website, September 11, 2009).
iv) Qassem Hashem, an Amal member of the Lebanese Parliament, said that the area from which the rockets were launched was not under Hezbollah control, and that since Resolution 1701 was passed the areas south of the Litani River were the responsibility of the Lebanese army and UNIFIL (Al-Nashra website, September 11, 2009).
UNIFIL and the UN
6. Milos Strugar, UNIFIL political advisor, said that UNIFIL had immediately launched an investigation into the incident, in coordination with the Lebanese army. He said the investigation was in the hands of the Lebanese regime, especially the army. Although he refused to provide details, he hinted that the investigation focused on a number of “extremist groups” (Agence France-Presse, September 12, 2009).
7. Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General, deplored the rocket fire and called on both sides to show restraint (Agence France-Presse, September 11, 2009). Michael Williams, the UN special coordinator for Lebanon, told reporters in Beirut that the incident was a very serious development called on all sides to “exercise absolute caution and restraint” (Lebanese News Agency, September 11, 2009).
The international arena
8. A spokesman for the American State Department strongly criticized the attack, which he called a clear violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. He said it showed the need for supervision of the weapons in Lebanon and for putting them into government hands, and the need for the international community to remain committed to supporting UNIFIL (Agence France-Presse, September 11, 2009).
9. The Russian foreign ministry said in an announcement that it called on all sides to implement Resolution 1701 and to show restraint to prevent a worsening of the situation, which might have a disastrous influence on internal Lebanese affairs (Russian foreign ministry website, September 12, 2009).
Conclusion
10. Since the end of the second Lebanon war there have been five rocket attacks against Israel from Lebanese soil: Four targeted the western Galilee and one targeted the Kiryat Shemonah. They were all carried out by local networks affiliated with the global jihad, the most prominent of which is Fath al-Islam.2 The networks are based in various locations including the Ayn al-Hilweh refugee camp near Sidon, and from there challenge the Lebanese government, UNIFIL and even Hezbollah by firing rockets at Israel and attacking Lebanese and UNIFIL targets.
11. The four former rocket attacks were the following:
i) On the morning of February 21, 2009, two rockets hit the village of Mailiyeh in the western Galilee, slightly wounding three civilians.
A rocket hit in the village of Mailiyeh
A rocket hit in the village of Mailiyeh (Photo: Shai Vaknin, February 21, 2009).
ii) On the morning of January 8, 2009, in the midst of Operation Cast Lead, two or three rockets were fired at the western Galilee from the western sector of south Lebanon. One hit an old age home in the Israeli city of Nahariya. A number of civilians were slightly injured and the building was damaged. Another rocket hit a village in the western Galilee.
A Katyusha hits an old-age home in Nahariya
A Katyusha hits an old-age home in Nahariya
(Photo: Hagai Einav, Ynet, January 7, 2009).
iii) On the morning of January 8, 2009, the remains of two rockets were found in the town of Shelomi in the western Galilee. Examination showed they were 107mm rockets which had been fired from Lebanon during the night. One hit the front yard of a private house and fragments landed on the porch. The remains of the other rocket were found nearby. There were no casualties and no damage was done.
Remains of one of the rockets used to attack Shelomi
Remains of one of the rockets used to attack Shelomi
(Nana website courtesy of Israeli Channel 10 TV, January 8, 2009).
iv) On the afternoon of June 7, 2007, three 107mm rockets were fired from the region between the villages of Tayyibah and Udaysah opposite the Ramim Ridge in south Lebanon. Two rockets hit Kiryat Shemonah (one of them in the city’s industrial zone) and one in Lebanon itself between the town of Udaysah and the village of Kafr Killa. There were no casualties and but property damage was incurred. A fourth rocket ready for launching was found and dismantled by Lebanese army engineers.
NBN TV, June 17, 2009
The remains of the rocket found at the firing site is examined
by a UNIFIL soldier (NBN TV, June 17, 2009).
12. Hezbollah, which since the second Lebanon war has not fired rockets into Israel, did not fire them this time either. It has exploited the calm in south Lebanon to rebuild its military-operational infrastructure, which was damaged during the war. Proof was the July 14 explosion in a building on the outskirts of the village of Khirbet Silim, north of the town of Bint Jbeil (about 15 kilometers, or 9.3 miles, from the Israeli-Lebanese border). The size of the explosion and the destruction it left made it obvious that it had been used as a weapons storehouse. Apparently it had housed rockets, machine gun ammunition, and mortar and artillery shells.3 Since the end of the second Lebanon war, Hezbollah has fundamentally and systematically violated Security Council Resolution 1701, and maintains hundreds of weapons stores in south Lebanon, most of them hidden within the houses of civilians.4
Hezbollah’s weapons storehouse on the outskirts of the village of Khirbet Silim after the explosion
Hezbollah’s weapons storehouse on the outskirts of the village of Khirbet Silim after the explosion.
1 The day before the attack, the Lebanese media reported that the Lebanese army had exposed a Palestinian terrorist squad with links to the Fath al-Islam network, which was planning a series of attacks against UNIFIL and other targets in Lebanon. It is unclear whether there is a connection between the rocket attack and the apprehension of the terrorist squad.
2 A terrorist organization with links to Al-Qaeda and a membership of several hundred operatives. Its main power bases were the refugee camps near Tripoli and north Lebanon. Its operatives found safe havens in other refugee camps in Lebanon after the Lebanese army destroyed its stronghold in the Nahr al-Bared camp. For further information see our May 31, 2007 bulletin “The confrontation in northern Lebanon between the Lebanese army and Fath al-Islam, the Al-Qaeda offshoot in Lebanon” at http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/pdf/fath_al_islam.pdf.
3 For further information see our August 3, 2009 bulletin “Explosion in Hezbollah weapons depot in the village of Khirbet Silim exposes the existence of an active Hezbollah military infrastructure south of the Litani river” at http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/pdf/hezbollah_e012.pdf.
4 Hezbollah’s rebuilding of its military infrastructure with aid from Iran and Syria, and the problems the Lebanese government and UNIFIL have in functioning, were obvious as early as the first year after the second Lebanon war. For further information see our August 13, 2007 bulletin “One year since the acceptance of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the second Lebanon war: An interim report” at http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/pdf/un1701_0807.pdf. In a speech given on July 17, 2009, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that Hezbollah had no intention of giving up its weapons [“the arms of the resistance”] and that it was not an issue that could be discussed or negotiated within Lebanon (Radio Noor, July 17, 2009).
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