Beirut: Hizbullah fighters who fired rockets towards Israeli forces from Lebanon on Friday were intercepted by the locals after that, said the group, a rare challenge for the Shi’ite movement supported by Iran when the members passed the druze area in the south.
Hezbollah fired a series of rockets against Israeli forces in the disputed Sheba farm area, saying it had targeted open land in retaliation for Israeli air strikes which hit open land in Lebanon on Thursday.
Israel responded to Friday rockets with artillery walls to Lebanon.
When the Hezbollah fighters returned from the launch, “a number of residents intercepted them” when they passed the Chouya area, Hezbollah said in a statement.
A video circulated on social media and broadcast by Lebanese TV stations showed a crowd of people who gathered on a flat blue truck loaded with rocket launchers in Chouiter, mostly Druze areas in the south.
The Lebanese army said in a statement he had resisted “four people who launched rockets and seized the launcher used in the operation”.
In his statement, Hezbollah said the launch had occurred “in a forested area really far from the residential area, to preserve residents’ security”.
Hezbollah said it always pays attention to the best to avoid explaining people to endanger “during resistance work”, and will continue to do so.
Walid Jumblatt, Lebanon’s leading Druze politician, urged tranquility after the incident.
“We hope we all come out of this tense atmosphere on social media,” he wrote on Twitter.
Hezbollah enjoyed strong support between the Shia which formed a majority in South Lebanon, where his fighters helped expel Israeli forces who occupied the area until 2000.
But strong Arsenal had long been a point of conflict in Lebanon, where political opponents said Arsenal said the country Lebanon and must be handed over to the army.