"As far as we know it is a rocket made by Syria on the model of the Iranian Fajr-5" missile, Yehuda Peretz told AFP.

On Friday, police said that a "missile" which landed without causing casualties or damage in Afula was of an "unknown type carrying around 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of explosives."

Until Friday Hezbollah, the militant Shiite group that Israel contends is armed and trained by Syria and Iran, had been using shorter-range Katyusha rockets to attack Israel.

Five explosive devices in all had landed in Afula, which is nearly 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Israel's border with Lebanon, without causing any casualties or damage, police said.

In Beirut, Shiite militant group Hezbollah said on Friday that its guerrillas had fired for the first time a salvo of what it called "Khaibar I" missiles at Afula.

Fajr-5 has a range of 47 miles (76 kilometers), with a warhead that can carry 99 pounds (45 kilograms) of explosives.

The explosive device that landed in Afula carried 100 kilograms of explosives and landed nearly 50 kilometers south of Israel's northern border with Lebanon.

Hezbollah has fired more than 1,500 rockets at Israel since July 12, when its guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a deadly cross-border raid that sparked the Jewish state's offensive on Hezbollah in Lebanon.

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