Israel Deploys Rocket Shield Near Egyptian Border

"An Iron Dome battery has been deployed in the town of Eilat as part of tests, momentarily modifying the sites where these systems are deployed," AFP reported the spokeswoman as saying.

This is the second Iron Dome deployment in Eilat following the first one in July.

Two rockets were fired from Egypt's Sinai peninsula targeting Israel's Red Sea resort town of Eilat last Wednesday. An Islamist militant group, Ansar Jerusalem, claimed responsibility for the attacks, U.S.-based monitoring SITE Intelligence Group reported on Thursday.

There were no reports of casualties or damages in the attack.

The incident occurred during the Egyptian security offensive in the region in response to the attack by jihadists on the Egyptian security checkpost on Aug. 5 which killed 16 guards.

Along with the security sweep, the government forces are implementing plans to destroy an elaborate network of underground tunnels used to smuggle weapons, militants and goods between Sinai and the Gaza Strip. The military has deployed extra troops and has closed the Rafah border with the Gaza Strip.

The military crackdown is a part of the Egyptian effort to retake control over the lawless Sinai Peninsula, which Israel returned to Egypt under the 1979 peace treaty by which the latter agreed to leave the area demilitarized.

An Islamist militant group Salafi Jihadi, operating in the peninsula warned the Egyptian army on Wednesday that the military offensive will force them to fight back, Jerusalem Post reported.

The group said there have been several instances in the past of rockets being fired from Sinai to Israel. A claim which Egypt denies.

"We have never raised our weapons against the Egyptian army," the Salafi Jihadi, said in a statement. "So stop the bloodshed or else you will be dragging us into a battle that is not ours," the group said, addressing the Egyptian army.

The group denied involvement in the attack on Egyptian border security post, adding that its true fight was with Israel.

Available information shows that it is not only the transitional period in Egypt that has led to the lawlessness in Sinai, but the conditions in neighboring Libya may have also added fuel to the fire.

The Israeli intelligence community says that the insurgent attacks are likely to continue and increase in frequency.

Israel has voiced its support for the Egyptian crackdown on the insurgent groups. Israel said Egypt's military action was a necessary response to keep a check on the growing number of Islamic militants in Sinai and announced its willingness to consider any Egyptian request to deploy additional military forces in the region.

Egyptian media reported on Wednesday that the Army of Islam, a Gaza-based group affiliated with al Qaeda, was behind the attacks. According to Israel, the perpetrators are global jihad operatives, whose common motive is to attack Israel and Egypt, Israeli media reports said.