Lebanese authorities detain people they say were planning rocket attacks on Israel

Lebanese authorities have detained several people who were allegedly planning to launch rockets into Israel and seized the weapons, the military said Sunday.

The army said that the arrests were linked to other detentions announced earlier this week. It added that as military intelligence was investigating that case they got information that a new rocket attack was being planned.

The army said troops raided an apartment near the southern port city of Sidon and seized some of the rockets and the launchers and detained several people who were involved in the operation. It said they were referred to judicial authorities.

Authorities on Wednesday detained several people, including a number of Palestinians, who were allegedly involved in firing rockets toward Israel in two separate attacks in late March that triggered intense Israeli airstrikes on parts of Lebanon. Lebanon’s Hezbollah group denied at the time that it was behind the firing of rockets.

Meanwhile on Sunday, a series of Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed two people, the Lebanese Civil Defense said in a statement. The Israeli army said in a statement that it killed Hussein Ali Nasr, whom it described as the deputy head of Hezbollah’s Unit 4400. Israel said Nasr helped smuggle weapons and funds into Lebanon via “Iranian operatives,” including through Beirut airport.

Another person was killed after a Lebanese army vehicle was hit by an explosion in circumstances that were unclear, the Lebanese Civil Defense said.

Since a November ceasefire ended a 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah, Israeli airstrikes have killed scores of people in Lebanon including civilians and Hezbollah members. Israel says it’s targeting Hezbollah holdouts in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said Friday that its fighters will not disarm as long as Israeli troops remain in southern Lebanon and the Israeli air force regularly violates Lebanese air space.