North - update

Ann wrote:


About 9 o'clock this morning 3 katushya rockets fell near the city of Kiryat Shmonah, which is near the border with Lebanon north of us. The rockets fell in fields around the city. The army immediately fired artillery rounds into the area where the rockets came from. In the hour since then it has been quiet, but everyone in the area has been asked to stay in or next to their bomb shelters until further notice. Even the regional courthouse is holding trials in the bomb shelter!

At about the same time, there was an exchange of gunfire on the Lebanese border near the coastal city of Nahariya.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the rockets, which means that they probably weren't fired by the Hisballah. There are plenty of small Palestinian militias which operate in the area, and it was probably one of them. However, none of them operate without the complicit sanction of Hisballah, which controls the area.

What is worrying is that the rockets were fired from the area of Marjdayoun and the Hazbani in southern Lebanon, which is up on a natural bench north of the border near Banyas / Tel Dan. This is territory which is technically under the auspices and control of the multinational UN peacekeeping force which was placed there to keep the peace after the 2006 war.

Yaron's school is next to the city. His teacher just called to tell us that as soon as the siren sounded they got all the children down into the bombshelters, and they will stay there until the army tells them it is safe to come out. The bomb shelters have food, water, bathrooms, etc. She said Yaron is very calm and is giving a lecture on the history of warfare to the other students, who are all sitting around him in rapt attention. He loves an audience! He also has an encyclopedia and another book with him, so he is fine.

I'll keep you posted.

A