Posted on 06/17/2007 9:01:41 AM PDT by anotherview
Jun. 17, 2007 17:33 | Updated Jun. 17, 2007 18:04
Four Katyusha rockets fired at northern Israel; none hurt
By YAAKOV KATZ, JPOST.COM STAFF AND AP
An IDF officer inspects the site where one of the Katyushas struck in Kiryat Shmona on Sunday.
Photo: Channel 10
The remnants of what was one of the Katyusha rockets that struck Kiryat Shmona on Sunday.
Photo: Channel 2
Four Katyusha rockets struck the town of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel Sunday afternoon, causing damage but no injuries.
Three rockets landed in Kiryat Shmona while a fourth hit Lebanese territory.
The identity of the attackers has not been confirmed, and the IDF was looking into whether the rockets were fired by Hizbullah or another group, possibly Palestinian, operating from Lebanon.
The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) reported that the rockets were launched by a Palestinian group, while Lebanese television said that the rockets were fired from the Lebanese village of Taibeh.
The privately owned Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation LBC channel said the village of Taibeh overlooks Kiryat Shmona.
UNIFIL and LAF troops set up checkpoints throughout southern Lebanon in an attempt to capture the perpetarators of the attack, Channel 2 reported.
Immediately following the attack, the MDA chief in the area raised the level of alert throughout northern Israel to its highest level. MDA teams treated one woman who suffered from shock.
One Kiryat Shmona resident who witnessed the Katyusha strike described what she saw in an interview with Channel 2.
"I heard a huge boom, and saw a giant mushroom cloud," she said. "I can't believe we are going back to the same situation that we had one year ago."
The mayor of the town, Haim Barbivai, echoed this sentiment, and called for a tough response from both the Israeli and Lebanese government.
"Heaven help us if we have another summer like the last one. That would be a tragedy," he told Channel 2.
In late 2005 several Katyusha rockets were fired into Israel, but later were found to have been launched not by Hizbullah but by a Palestinian group affiliated with al-Qaida.
For those calling for Lebanon War III, I disagree. Get the people who did this, yes. Go for an all out war when the pro-American, pro-Western Lebanese government is using it's military to try and catch these people, no. If the Lebanese fail to act ONLY THEN should we.
pinging the pingers
What do you have to say for yourself, anotherview? You were such a big supporter of Ol' Merde and Kadima.
FReepMail to be added or removed from this pro-Israel/Judaic/Russian Jewry ping list.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
I just hear on Fox news Alouette so everybody is safe?
I, too, had family that had to flee from the north or stay in shelters. I will say what I have said repeatedly since the second Lebanon war: I was wrong about Olmert. He is a weak leader if one can call him a leader at all. He is a disaster. Satisfied?
Kadima is another matter. All three of the largest parties are now led by failed Prime Ministers. We don’t need a repeat of Barak (Labour) or Bibi (Likud) and we certainly don’t need more of Olmert. I still think our best likely new leaders are in Kadima. Even you said Tzipi Livni would be an interesting choice and I agree. Shaul Mofaz would perhaps be even better with his military background.
At least Barak as Defense Minister knows what he is doing better than Peretz. Since we are stuck with this government for now let us hope and pray for them to act with wisdom.
How?
No Israelis were injured, thankfully.
How? Right now let’s let the LAF act if they are willing to do so. They are taking on Palestinian terrorists and al-Qaeda near Tripoli. Siniora seems to understand that this is as much a threat to his government as it is to Israel.
In the meanwhile let Defense Minister Barak plan properly for a Lebanon War if one proves necessary. I’m sure you read the Winograd Commission interim report. It blamed Olmert and Peretz for rushing into Lebanon without any plan for war. I, for one, am glad the Prime Minister does not seem to be repeating his mistakes of last summer.
If I were making decisions I would call up some reserves and deploy them in the north to send a message and to be ready if the response to that message is inadequate.
Kadima consists of all the crooked opportunists who jumped ship from Labor and Likud because they thought they could get ahead faster. They are out for themselves only and screw the country and everybody who lives in it.
Meretz: treasonous bastards who belong in jail. Why does the media promote them out of all proportion?
Livni: a complete failure, a total incompetent.
Bibi: best of the lot of losers.
The ideal leader would be Natan Sharansky. Too bad he was forced out of the political arena.
Check this out. The timing is no coincidence. Iran and Syria pull the strings and their willing proxies are trying to start this Summer’s round of war with Israel.
OH OKAY that cool
I only got tail end of Fox news report
I agree with you. Whether they continue to escalate into a full scale war will depend on how we (Israel) and the U.S. responds to this and whether the Arabs who fear Iranian influence quietly act as well. We’ve seen the Gulf states propping up the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and that is probably a good thing.
Bottom line: react with weakness and Iran ratchets things up. React with strength and things may quiet down.
Natan Sharansky is an intelligent man. I believe he would be more pragmatic than you might like if he actually came to power. Speaking of former Likud politicians, how would you feel about someone like Dr. Moshe Arens?
Politicians always act in their own interest when making political decisions like what party to be with. Do you really believe Shaul Mofaz would be a weak leader?
Tzipi Livni is Foreign Minister. Her job is P.R. and diplomacy. What would you have her do that she hasn’t done?
I don’t disagree with you. I do believe a war is coming. The question is whether we should launch it preemptively as we did in 1967 or whether we should watch, wait, and prepare. What we have to avoid is a lack of preparation when all the signs are there as was the case in the run up to the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
I am not plugged into the intelligence community. I don’t know when the best time will be or if we really should act now. I do know that there are Arab governments who fear Iranian actions as much as we do. The U.S. could coordinate action that allows the Arabs to act (as they are in Lebanon now by aiding the LAF materially) without tying Israel’s hands. I just fear the Bush administration doesn’t understand the Middle East well enough to take the right sort of action. Certainly a U.S. strike on Iran to take out the nuclear program would have less risk of inflaming the entire Middle East than a similar Israeli strike.
Israel must have new leadership in order to properly confront the multi-fronted threats.
The Bush administration and the American people don’t seem to have the stomach for the kind of action that we both see as necessary. The Bush administration will limit what kind of action Israel can take... unfortunately.
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