RMEISH, south Lebanon: Lebanese authorities confirmed Tuesday that one rocket fired from southern Lebanon landed into Israel overnight, prompting Israeli troops to retaliate by firing six artillery shells.

Militant Al-Qaida affiliated group Abdullah Azzam Brigades has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to el-Nashra news website.

“On Tuesday morning 29/11/2011 a unit from Abdallah Azzam Brigades shelled Zionist settlements in North Palestine from south Lebanon and the missiles have hit their targets, and victory is but from God,” the website quoted parts of the statement which it claims it has been sent as saying.

On Nov. 23, the U.S. said it placed a suspected Saudi member of the Abdallah Azzam Brigades on its list of international criminals. The State Department also said that the man, known as Hamad Al-Hablain, was an explosives expert for the group, which has taken credit for firing rockets into Israel.

The Israeli army does not believe the attack was the work of Hezbollah, but rather of Palestinian or al-Qaida affiliated groups, the Jerusalem Post reported Tuesday. The attack came on International Day of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

A Lebanese Army source said only one rocket was fired from a remote area near the border town of Aita Shaab toward Israel shortly after midnight. UNIFIL also confirmed that its radars detected firing of “at least one rocket into Israel after midnight.

Internal Security Forces sources, however, told The Daily Star that the sound of two explosions was heard at 12:30 a.m. from the vicinity of Aita Shaab.

Israel retaliated 50 minutes after the initial attack, firing six artillery shells into the same remote area where the rockets were launched.

A security source told The Daily Star that Lebanese troops found two homemade rocket launch pads in a vacant area between the villages of Rmeish and Ain Ibl.

The source said a battery and a timer were also left behind.

President Michel Sleiman Tuesday afternoon termed the rocket attack against Israel a violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701.

“The firing of rockets, which was carried out individually, toward occupied Palestinian territory does not serve the interest of solidarity with the Palestinian people,” Sleiman said.

The rocket attack is “also a violation of the state of stability prevailing in the south and [a violation] of resolution 1701 as well as Lebanese laws and international obligations,” he added.

Israeli warplanes flew at low altitude over the area Tuesday, as around 200 Lebanese soldiers took part in the search along with dozens of peacekeepers from the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon.

A joint Lebanese Army-UNIFIL committee was also set up to look into the incident, the first of exchange of rocket fire in two years.

“UNIFIL, in cooperation with the parties, is currently investigating on the ground to determine the facts and circumstances of the incident as well as to locate the launching site of the rocket fire,” the statement said.

It said UNIFIL Force Commander Maj. Gen. Alberto Asarta is maintaining close contact with the parties and has called for maximum restraint in order to prevent any escalation of the situation.

Israel’s army said several rockets landed in the western Galilee region, causing no causalities.

"The Israeli army considers that it is a serious incident and believes that it is the responsibility of the Lebanese government and the Lebanese army to avoid this kind of attacks," an army statement said.

Israeli public radio reported that four rockets had landed in Israel – one caused minor damage, while another landed in a populated area but failed to explode.

Local military commanders were assessing the situation but people in northern Israel, where the rockets landed, had not been told to go to air raid shelters, an Israeli army spokesman said.

The last incident at the Israeli-Lebanese border dates back to August 1, when soldiers from the two countries exchanged fire along the Blue Line, the U.N.-drawn border.

A similar incident more than a year earlier left two Lebanese soldiers, a journalist and a senior Israeli officer dead.

And in May 2011, Israeli troops killed 10 people and wounded more than 110 others on Sunday on the border in south Lebanon during a

Palestinian refugee protest to mark the anniversary of the 1948 creation of the Jewish state, which Palestinians term the "naqba," or catastrophe. – with AFP