Rockets will rain down on Israel in future war says Lebanese militant

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah’s comments come days after an eight-day Israeli offensive against Gaza ended with a truce.

Israeli aircraft launched some 1,500 strikes on targets linked to the Palestinian territory’s Hamas rulers and other groups while Gaza militants fired roughly the same number of rockets into Israel.

Some Iranian-made Fajr-5 rockets targeted the cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for the first time. Nasrallah said in a speech in Beirut yesterday that Israel will face “thousands of rockets that will fall on Tel Aviv and other areas if it launches an aggression against Lebanon”.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a 34-day war in 2006.

Meanwhile, a leading Islamic cleric in the Gaza Strip has ruled it a sin to violate the recent ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas militant group that controls the Palestinian territory.

The fatwa, or religious edict, issued by Suleiman al-Daya on Saturday night accords a religious legitimacy to the truce and could justify any act by Gaza’s government to enforce it.

“Honouring the truce, which was sponsored by our Egyptian brethren, is the duty of each and every one of us.

“Violating it shall constitute a sin,” the fatwa read.

The truce agreed on Wednesday put an end to an eight-day Israeli 
offensive against Gaza militants who fired rockets into 
Israel.

The agreement remains fragile because details beyond the initial ceasefire have not yet been worked out.