Danny Danon at UN
Danny Danon at UNUN Photo/Kim Haughton

Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, on Sunday night called on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to condemn the rockets that were fired earlier in the day from southern Lebanon at the Israeli city of Nahariya.

"These rockets were fired from south of the Litani River and are in blatant violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701...I call on you to condemn these violations immediately, and to address the escalation on the part of Lebanon before the situation further escalates," Ambassador Danon wrote.

"Israel will not accept any violation of its sovereignty, and will take all necessary measures to protect its citizens," he stressed.

In his letter, Ambassador Danon emphasized that the threat these attacks represent to the stability of the region is magnified by Hezbollah’s ongoing military buildup in southern Lebanon, also in clear violation of Security Council Resolution 1701 which brought an end to the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

"Every day, new evidence emerges that Hezbollah, an internationally recognized terrorist group, is using southern Lebanon as a military encampment, and is embedding its military infrastructure in civilian areas. Hezbollah has stationed thousands of missiles and rockets in the heart of southern Lebanon’s civilian population, in violation of international law", Danon wrote in his letter.

On Sunday afternoon, at least three rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel.

Locals reported hearing at least one explosion. There are no reports of injury or damage.

A short time later, the IDF confirmed it sent the Israeli Air Force (IAF) into southern Lebanon in direct retaliation for the attack.

The rocket attacks and the IAF airstrikes followed Hezbollah’s vowing revenge for the assassination of its notorious commander Samir Kuntar, in what is believed to have been an Israeli airstrike near Damascus.