Army says foiled rocket attack on Israel, seized weapons

Lebanese authorities have detained several people who they say were planning to launch rockets into Israel and confiscated the weapons they were intending to use, the military said Sunday.

The army said in a statement that the arrests are linked to other detentions announced earlier this week. It added that as military intelligence was investigating that case they got information that a new rocket attack was being planned.

The army said troops raided an apartment near the southern port city of Sidon and confiscated some of the rockets and the launchers and "detained several people who were involved in the operation." It said the detainees were referred to judicial authorities, as Al-Arabiya television said those arrested belong to Hamas.

On Wednesday, the army said in a statement that authorities detained several people, including a number of Palestinians, who were involved in firing rockets in two separate attacks toward Israel in late March that triggered intense Israeli airstrikes on parts of Lebanon. Lebanon's Hezbollah denied at the time that it was behind the firing of rockets.