Beirut, Dec 26 (DPA) The UN Interim Forces in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) Thursday stepped up its patrols along the Lebanon-Israel border after Lebanese troops dismantled eight rockets that were apparently ready to be launched at northern Israel.”Our UN troops are on alert and our patrols are enhancing their movements at the borders after the Lebanese army dismantled the rockets,” UN spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziyan said.

The Lebanese Army found eight Katyusha rockets near Teir Harfa village, north of the border with Israel. It was not known who had planted the projectiles in the area controlled by a UN peacekeeping force and the Lebanese Army.

The area was a stronghold of the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah until the 2006 war with Israel. The Hezbollah press office refused to comment on Thursday’s discovery.

The rockets were found as tension has increased in the Gaza Strip following the end of a truce between Israeli forces and Hamas.