Israel, Hezbollah: No Desire To Escalate Following Rocket Attacks

Both Israel and Hezbollah said they had no desire to escalate the situation following Friday's rocket attacks at Israeli territory claimed by the Lebanese-based terrorist organization.

Following a meeting between Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi and other security officials, an IDF spokesman said that Israel had no intention to respond further after its initial retaliation involving artillery fire and fighter jets.

"We have no interest in intensifying the conflict or in starting a war, but we will not let the border area become an active front line," he said.

The spokesman said that the rocket attacks were an attempt by Hezbollah to show that it controls southern Lebanon following Wednesday's rocket fire that was attributed to a rogue Palestinian faction. The group, the spokesman said, purposefully chose to target open areas and not population centers like Kiryat Shmona.

A Hezbollah source told London-based media outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the group has no intention to escalate and that the rocket attacks were in response to Israeli airstrikes on open areas in the al-Jarmaq and al-Shawakir areas on Wednesday night.