4 rockets fired from Syria land in Lebanese town

At least four rockets fired from Syria have landed in an area near the Lebanese border town of Baalbek in Bekaa Valley, Press TV reports.

A Press TV correspondent in Lebanon said the rockets did not cause any casualties.

It was not immediately clear who launched the rockets or why they were fired into the Lebanese soil. But al-Qaeda-linked militants operating in Syria have claimed responsibility for a number of similar attacks on Lebanese border towns in the past months.

The Lebanese towns and cities near the Syrian border have been frequently targeted by foreign-backed militants in Syria, which has been plagued by relentless militancy since 2011.

Seven people were killed on January 17 in the town of Arsal, some 124 kilometers northeast of Beirut, by mortar shells fired from the Syrian side of the border.

On the same day, almost a dozen more rockets crashed into areas in and around the northern border town of Hermel, without casualties or any major damage.

The Shia-populated town of Hermel – considered to be strongholds of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah – was also targeted by rockets fired by anti-Syria militants later in the month.

On January 25, the al-Nusra Front in Lebanon issued a threat against Hezbollah, saying it will continue attacks against the resistance movement.

The statement came days after the al-Qaeda-affiliated group claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack that killed four people and injured many others in a southern suburb of Beirut.

The Western powers and their regional allies — especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey — are widely viewed as supporting the militants operating in Syria.

Reports say the turmoil in Syria has left more than 130,000 people dead and displaced millions of others.