Iran and Qatar on Friday called for international condemnation of the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) airstrikes in Gaza and southern Lebanon amid ongoing tensions stemming from Israeli forces’ storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and weeklong Jewish feast of Passover.
Israel launched the airstrikes earlier on Friday in response to a barrage of rockets fired from across the Israeli-Lebanese border and the Gaza Strip on Thursday.
IDF spokesperson Richard Hecht called the rocket barrage from Lebanon and the Gaza Strip a “very serious event,” saying that around 34 rockets were launched on Thursday from Lebanon into Israel, but 25 were intercepted and six fell into Israeli territory. The rocket attack along the Israeli-Lebanese border is one of the largest since the 2006 war between the two nations. Israel blamed Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas for the launches.
“The IDF will not allow the Hamas terrorist organization to operate from within Lebanon and holds the state of Lebanon responsible for every directed fire emanating from its territory,” IDF said in a statement, according to CNN.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement that the attacks on southern Lebanon violate Lebanon’s sovereignty and “territorial integrity.” He also called the attacks on Gaza Strip “a gross breach of the principles of international law and human rights of the Palestinian people.”
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Kanani urged the international community to issue an “effective deterrent” response to the Israeli forces’ “acts of aggression.” Qatar’s foreign ministry also strongly condemned the Israeli strikes, according to The Times of Israel.
“The [Qatari] foreign ministry holds Israel solely responsible for widening the cycle of violence,” the ministry said in a statement, citing Israeli forces beating Palestinian Muslim worshippers on the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa Mosque compound earlier this week.
Doha also stressed the “need for the international community to act urgently” to urge Israel to stop its attacks.
The rocket fire unfolded after clashes broke out between Israeli forces and Palestinians on Tuesday at Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam, with videos of the incident circulating online showing officers striking people with batons. Israeli security forces said they were responding to Palestinian worshippers armed with fireworks and stones who refused to leave the compound.
The Israeli police said in a statement that its forces had to enter Al-Aqsa, as “hundreds of rioters and mosque desecrators (had) barricaded themselves” inside, according to CNN. Israeli authorities added that “when the police entered, stones were thrown at them, and fireworks were fired from inside the mosque by a large group of agitators.”
Hecht said that the “intensity is going down” in Jerusalem, but warned that more tensions could rise following the attacks.
“We’re looking at it very closely,” Hecht told Newsweek on Thursday, “and we’re preparing ourselves on all borders.”
Other Countries Condemning Israel, Gaza, Lebanon Violence
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi told CNN on Thursday that the rocket fire from Lebanon into Israel was “the outcome of the unprovoked Israeli aggression on peaceful worshippers performing their religious duty.”
“We’re unfortunately at the exact moment, the dangerous moment we have worked for months to avoid,” Safadi said, “which is a moment where violence is erupting.”
The United States, one of Israel’s strongest allies, condemned the barrage of rockets and the attacks on Al-Aqsa.
“We condemn the launch of rockets from Lebanon and Gaza at Israel,” State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said during a briefing Thursday. “Our commitment to Israel’s security is ironclad and we recognize Israel’s legitimate right to defend itself against all forms of aggression.”
Patel also called for calm regarding the events at Al-Aqsa, saying that “we are concerned by the scenes out of Jerusalem, and it is our viewpoint that it is absolutely vital that the sanctity of holy sites be preserved.”
Newsweek has reached out via email to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy for comment.
