Sunday, December 20, 2015

20-Dec-15: Sunday evening rocket volley is fired into northern Israel

Following the demise of a notorious terrorist earlier today, there has just now been a rocket volley fired into northern Israel. Israel National News says:
At least three rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, the army has confirmed. Air raid sirens sounded in communities throughout the western Galilee in northern Israel, at 17:42 local time Sunday, including in Rosh Hanikra and Nahariya. Locals report hearing at least one explosion; three rockets struck within Israel. There are no reports of injury or damage. IDF forces are scanning the area. The strikes follow Hezbollah vowing revenge for the assassination of its notorious commander Samir Kuntar, in what is believed to have been an Israeli airstrike near Damascus.
There were four incoming rockets, according to Times of Israel. It quotes Lebanon’s Naharnet saying that
two rockets were fired at Israel from the al-Hinniyeh area and two others were fired from Tal al-Maaliyeh. Some reports suggest one rocket landed in the sea. There are also initial reports of IDF artillery fire into Lebanon following the attack. There is no official confirmation of a counterattack...[A]t least one rocket landed in an open area near Nahariya. It’s not clear where the other two landed. “Forces are searching the area,” the IDF says in a statement. There are no reports of injuries or damage.
We noticed at least one Western reporter, tweeting here, who said this morning that Syrian state media had blamed "a hostile terrorist missile strike," and not Israel, for the elimination of Kuntar. In any event, no government, and certainly not Israel, has owned up to any involvement at this stage.

UPDATE - Monday, December 21, 2015: Times of Israel says communal bomb shelters are now operating in several northern Israel communities following the Sunday night multiple-rocket attacks. The Israeli assessment is that three rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon, with all three landing near Shlomi, a small town near the Lebanese border. Inbound-rocket sirens were heard across a broad swathe of the northern border area. UNIFIL radars detected three rockets being launched and one of them landing in the sea, according to the IDF. Credit for the attack has been claimed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, a Syria-based Palestinian terror group. There are so far no reports of injuries or damage from the rocket strikes. A Lebanese source quoted by AFP says the rockets were Katyushas.

No comments: