WEDNESDAY AUGUST 2, 8:30 PMJews throughout Israel began marking the fast day of Tisha b’Av (the ninth of the Hebrew month of Av) at sundown this evening, when Jeremiah’s Book of Lamentations is traditionally read. The prophets mournful words concerning the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem will reverberate even more over the next 24 hours after northern Israeli cities and towns were struck today by the largest number of rockets since the 1967 Six Day war, and as senior officials in neighboring Syria and Iran warn that they are “prepared to defend Lebanon from Zionist agression.”
A 35 year old Israeli farmer was killed this morning on Kibbutz Sar north of Nahariya. The man instantly perished when a rocket crashed down next to him as he was out riding his bicycle, pummeling his body with shrapnel and ball bearings. He leaves behind a wife and two young daughters. Israeli television tonight showed the blood-stained site of the attack, noting that his faithful dog had refused to leave the spot where he was killed throughout the day.
Around 35 Israelis were injured elsewhere, one woman critically, as rockets struck in over 20 locations, including in Tiberius (whose streets and beaches were virtually empty all day), Safed, Nahariya, Haifa, Afula, Kiryat Shmona, and the port of Acco near Haifa. Five homes and cars were set on fire as over 210 rockets blitzed northern Israel. (Hizbullah claimed it had shot over 300 rockets by dusk). Today’s death brings the Israeli civilian toll up to 20, with 35 soldiers killed so far, including three who perished during heavy clashes yesterday. One was a Jerusalem resident who had immigrated to Israel from Philadelphia. He cut short a visit with his family there to rush back here to join his unit soon after the war began three weeks ago.
More ominously, Hizbullah fired at least one “Kybar-1” rocket today, landing over 40 miles south of the Lebanon border—the furthest penetration so far. The rockets carry an explosive payload nearly five times more powerful than the nearly 2,000 Katyusha rockets that have struck Israel since the conflict began exactly three weeks ago today. The Syrian-made rockets have a range over four times that of most Katyushas, which explains why one landed not far from the Israeli town of Beit Shean, due east of where five of the rockets struck around Afula last Friday. Another rocket actually landed in the Gilboa mountain range (where King Saul was slain over 3,000 years ago), just two miles east of the Palestinian town of Jenin in northern Samaria—demonstrating that Hizbullah’s rockets can also kill the very Palestinians that the Shiite group is supposedly supporting.
ARMY ACTION INTENSIFIES
Wednesday’s rocket barrage came as the army significantly stepped up its ground offensive throughout southern Lebanon. Over 8,000 soldiers are now operating inside the country. Heavy fighting was reported in several locations. A number of army tanks were hit by Hizbullah anti-tank rockets, but no IDF casualties were reported. The stepped up action is coming far too late according to many Israeli opposition politicians and military analysts, who particularly blame Labor party members of Prime Minister Olmert’s Security Cabinet for unnecessarily putting off the inevitable. Army leaders say they need around two more weeks to completely push Hizbullah fighters and rocket launchers north of the Litani River. However it is expected that the United States and Great Britain will fully support an immediate ceasefire call at the United Nations by the end of this week, or early next week at the latest. So the army is now in a race for time.
However, PM Olmert made clear that his forces will stay put inside Israel’s former border Security Zone until some sort of international peacekeeping force is sent to the region. That is expected to take some months, particularly since few expect Hizbullah’s defiant leaders—fully backed by Syria and Iran—to stop attacking IDF positions, even if the Lebanese government calls upon then to halt. In fact, one Lebanese cabinet minister told Sky News today that the government “fully supports Hizbullah’s resistance” against Israel’s clean out operation. Political analysts on Israel radio said the comment probably indicates that Lebanese officials suspect that Syria might be about to regain its dominant control over Lebanon due to growing street support for its Hizbullah surrogates.
Olmert maintained that Hizbullah has been decimated by the three week IDF operation, with over 700 positions destroyed. However the comment came before today’s severe rocket barrage began mid-morning, which was said to have caught the Premier by surprise. Olmert also opened a deep political fissure here in Israel by restating his full commitment to his declared intention to tear down dozens of Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria in the near future, uprooting an estimated 80,000 Jews from their homes. Several opposition politicians blasted the comment, noting that some of the IDF’s best fighters come from the very communities slated for destruction. Reminding such soldiers that their homes may soon be turned into rubble, like many have where the men are struggling to subdue Hizbullah fighters in southern Lebanon, was extremely poor timing they charged.
Meanwhile Israeli government and military leaders are keeping a wary eye on nearby Syria, where the visiting Iranian foreign minister met today with senior Syrian officials. Afterwards, the Iranian politician again stated his country’s determination to continue to fully back Hizbullah in its fight “to repel the Zionist invasion forces.” A similar statement was made today in Tehran by Iranian dictator Ayatollah Khameini. Syria’s Baathist leaders echoed the threatening comments while rebuking Israel for carrying out a daring helicopter raid overnight into the town of Baalbek, located some 60 miles north of Israel and less than 10 miles west of the Syrian border. The Bekaa Valley town, dubbed “Little Tehran” by some Lebanese, has been a Hizbullah stronghold since 1982. The IDF said it captured five Hizbullah militiamen in the town, and killed another 10, all hiding out in the local Iranian-built hospital. However they did not succeed in locating an unnamed “senior Hizbullah commander” that they hoped to find in the building.
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DAVID DOLAN is a Jerusalem-based author and journalist who has lived in Israel since 1980. His new DVD, titled “FOR ZIONS’S SAKE—REPORTING FROM THE LAND OF THE BIBLE,” is now available on both PAL and NTCS versions. Details are posted at his web site, www.ddolan.com