ROCKET FROM LEBANON HITS NORTHERN ISRAEL

C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIRUT 001180 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/28/2019 TAGS: PREL PTER PINR MOPS MCAP KPKO UN IS LE SUBJECT: ROCKET FROM LEBANON HITS NORTHERN ISRAEL REF: BEIRUT 1153 Classified By: Classified by Ambassador Michele J. Sison for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: On the evening of October 27, one Katyusha rocket was launched from Lebanon into an uninhabited region near the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) promptly retaliated with an artillery barrage into an uninhabited area. There were no reports of injuries or fatalities on either side, and no organization has claimed responsibility for the attack. The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) reported on October 28 that it found four rockets during a search of the launch area in the village of Houla, and it suspects the initial rocket fired prematurely, causing the culprits to flee. Upon receiving notice of the incident, caretaker Prime Minister Fouad Siniora quickly condemned the attack and the Israeli retaliatory fire as a violation of UNSCR 1701. End summary. ONE KATYUSHA FIRED INTO ISRAEL -------------- ¶2. (C) On the evening of October 27, one 107mm Katyusha rocket was launched from Lebanon into an uninhabited region near the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona. There were no reports of injuries or fatalities. The IDF promptly retaliated with a sequenced barrage of seven 155mm howitzer rounds. The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reported that the rounds landed into open fields in Wadi al-Jamal, approximately one kilometer from the suspected launch area in the border village of Houla, near where three Israeli surveillance devices were destroyed on October 17 and 18. ¶3. (C) The morning of October 28, LAF Deputy Chief of Operations BGen Abdulrahman Shehaitly informed DAO that the LAF found four rockets during a search of the launch area near Houla. Three of the rockets were primed to fire; one was not. A video camera was also found at the site by the LAF, Chehaitly noted, though he cautioned that the discovery of the camera was not publicly known. Chehaitly told the DAO that evidence at the scene led him to believe one rocket had fired prematurely, causing the perpetrators to flee the scene. Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri told the Ambassador on October 28 that the rocket was launched from a construction zone immediately next to the house of the town's mayor, who belongs to Hizballah. Berri surmised that the culprits were outsiders seeking to draw Hizballah into a clash with Israel by drawing retaliatory fire to the mayor's home. NO CLAIMS OF RESPONSIBILITY -------------- ¶4. (C) UNIFIL poloff confirmed to us that UNIFIL and the LAF sent patrols and investigation teams into the area immediately after the launch. UNIFIL sources also reported that the IDF warned UNIFIL prior to firing its retaliatory shells 10-15 minutes after the rocket launch from Houla. No group has publicly claimed responsibility for the firing of the Katyusha rocket. Given the location of the launch, the Lebanese press is speculating that the attack came in response to the discovery and detonation of Israeli-controlled surveillance devices on October 18, also near Houla (reftel). GOL CONDEMNS ATTACK -------------- ¶5. (U) Caretaker PM Siniora, in a statement released on the evening of the attack, said the rocket launch was a violation of UNSCR 1701 and an assault on Lebanese sovereignty. The Embassy's informal translation of Siniora's statement (original in Arabic) follows: Begin statement: The use of Lebanese territory to launch Katyusha rockets well beyond the Lebanese border and the hasty Israeli reaction by firing shells at areas in the south and Lebanese territory are, for us, objectionable and condemned acts by all standards. The Lebanese government does not agree, and will not allow, the use of Lebanese territory as a mailbox by any of the parties to drag Lebanon into a cycle of tension. The Lebanese government will conduct the necessary investigation and will take the necessary measures to prevent recurrence of this act which is considered a violation of UNSCR 1701 and an infringement on the sovereignty of the Lebanese state and its national interests. Lebanon condemns in the strongest terms Israel's setting out to launch shells towards Lebanese territory. For us, this act is considered an act of aggression and a new violation of the UN resolution, and an act that oversteps the international peacekeeping forces and their role in maintaining this resolution and its application. End statement. SISON