Rockets fired Thursday from Lebanon were made in Iran

Yoav Stern, Haaretz:

The rockets fired from Lebanon, one of which landed in the moshav of Margaliot adjacent to the northern border on Thursday, are Iranian-made Fajr 3 models, marking the first time shells imported from Iran were used against Israel, the Lebanese English-language newspaper The Daily Star reported.

The report also indicates that armed groups have Iranian-produced weaponry at their disposal with which to fire across the northern border.

The Fajr 3 rocket measures 240 milimeters in diameter with a length of five meters. It weighs in at over 400 kilograms and its range can reach up to 43 kilometers, enabling it to reach the metropolitan Haifa area if fired from the Lebanese border. READ MORE

As opposed to the run-of-the-mill Katyusha rockets which are normally used by Palestinian organizations, the Fajr 3 can be fired by a lone agent.

The newspaper reported Friday that an investigation revealed the rockets were fired from the Marjayoun region in south Lebanon. One shell hit a chicken coop in Margaliot while two others landed in Lebanese territory, causing no injuries or damage.

Islamic Jihad issued a statement claiming responsibility for the shelling, adding that the attack was in response to the Wednesday night killing of five Palestinian Islamic Jihad members in the West Bank town of Tul Karm.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which investigated Thursday's shelling, has provided Israel and Lebanon with its findings.

On Thursday, a spokesman from the Hezbollah militia denied it was responsible for the shooting. Nonetheless, the group does maintain posts in the region from where the shells were fired, which raises the possibility that Hezbollah members fired the shells by mistake.

The trajectory of the rockets was between five and six kilometers only. In addition, the rockets landed in an area which is outside of the group's traditional front, namely the Sheba Farms region on Mount Dov.

Various reports have stated that Hezbollah possesses approximately 13,000 rockets in southern Lebanon with ranges that can reach expansive areas inside Israel.