Hezbollah is behind the two Katyusha rocket attacks that struck northern Israel in the last two weeks. | In both cases, the organization used proxy Palestinian militant groups to launch the rockets from southern Lebanon. |
Security forces in the north are in a state of heightened alert, for fear that Hezbollah will fire more rockets into Israel or try to avenge the February 2008 assassination of Imad Mughniyeh, the organization's No. 2, in Damascus. Hezbollah has since tried to carry out at least five attacks against Israeli or Jewish targets in various countries.
The second Katyusha attack, which occurred last week, was aimed at the northern Galilee. The rockets landed in open territory, resulting in neither casualties nor property damage.
The organization that physically fired the rockets was the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command, founded by Ahmed Jibril, a former military officer in the Syrian Army and one of the PFLP's early leaders. Over the past few years, PFLP has become a close Hezbollah ally.
In coordinating the rocket strikes, Hezbollah went against several ministers in the Lebanese government who specifically asked the organization to refrain from perpetrating attacks on Israel, which risked igniting a conflagration of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel.