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War on Terror

Tension ratchets; Patriots deployed in Haifa

Two Katyusha salvoes hit Tiberias for the first time


By Stan Goodenough
July 15, 2006

Tension in the Middle East is heading for levels not felt in the region for years. The unfolding situation has seen new precedents set and new scenarios being prepared for.

Saturday ? the Shabbat ? saw no rest for Israel. From their positions in southern Lebanon the Iranian-backed Hizb?allah continued to fire salvoes of Katyusha rockets into the Galilee.

For the first time, in two different attacks, those rockets hit Tiberias, a city on the Sea of Galilee. Two rockets exploded in residential areas, causing extensive damage and inflicting a number of injuries.

The attacks on Tiberias came a day after Hizb?allah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned that his terror group had a surprise in store for Israel which it would reveal on Saturday. Two days earlier Hizb?allah had rocketed Haifa for the first time.

In response to the deeper strikes, Israel deployed three batteries of Patriot anti-missile missiles in Haifa Saturday.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces continued to fire artillery from land and sea into Lebanon, running bombing raids into Beirut, Jounieh and Tripoli. Nasrallah?s offices in Beirut were targeted again. Israel has declared its intention to assassinate the Hizb?allah clinic at the first opportunity.

IDF officials reported Saturday evening that over 400 Katyushas have been fired into Israel in the last four days.

Addressing the nation on Saturday, a senior IDF officer urged Israelis from Haifa and Tiberias and northward to stay in their bomb shelters or sealed rooms. Residents south of those cities were advised that sirens would sound should rockets threaten them too. They would have about a minute to enter their security rooms after the sirens were set off.

Earlier Saturday the Israeli navy towed a ship into Haifa that had been damaged by an Iranian-supplied shore-to-sea missile the day before. The body of one of four IDF soldiers blasted overboard in that strike has been recovered. Searches continue for the other three.

As the situation threatens to spiral out of control, it may be helpful to have a simple timeline that will contextualize events that have snowballed in recent days:

August-September 2005: Israel unilaterally pulls its civilians and soldiers out of the Gaza Strip, handing the entire area over to the Palestinian Arabs.

September 2005 to June 2006: From their newly Israel-free territory over which they have absolute control, Gaza?s Arabs intensify their Kassam rocket strikes against Israeli population centers. Israel responds by shelling empty fields. This situation persists for 10 months.

June 25: In a daring raid on an IDF post near southern Gaza, Hamas kills two soldiers and kidnaps 19-year-old IDF Corporal Gilad Shalit, hiding him in the Gaza Strip and demanding Israel release ?Palestinian? prisoners. Meanwhile Kassam rocket attacks on Israeli targets increase.

June 30 to July 5: The IDF invades first southern, then northern, then central Gaza, continuing its strikes against Palestinian Arab terrorists, some of which are successful. Others, botched, see civilians killed. Kidnapped soldier Shalit is not recovered. Kassam rocket attacks are not stopped. The death toll among Palestinian Arabs climbs.

July 7 to 9: Iranian President Ahmadinejad warns of ?Islamic explosion? over IDF action in Gaza.

July 12: Iranian proxy militia in Lebanon, the Hizb?allah, attacks targets inside the internationally-recognized sovereign territory of Israel. Eight soldiers are killed in a decoy artillery and rocket strike. When the IDF responds to the attack scene, Hizb?allah gunmen abduct two Israeli soldiers from a different point on the border. Shortly afterwards Hizb?allah chief Hassan Nasrallah messages Israel that if it wants its soldiers back ? the two taken in Lebanon as well as Shalit down in Gaza ? Israel must release thousands of Arab terrorists held in Israeli jails.

July 12: Israel calls the attack an act of war and holds Lebanon ? which has refused to comply with United Nations demands that it disarm and disband Hizb?allah ? responsible.

July 12: IDF artillery, IAF aircraft, and Israeli naval vessels bombard southern Lebanon in a bid to prevent the kidnapped soldiers being removed from the area.

July 12: Hizb?allah responds with fusillades of Katyusha rocket and mortar attacks aimed at Israeli civilian centers, towns and farms in the Galilee.

July 13: Israel bombs Beirut airport to put its runways out of commission, then imposes a land, sea and air blockade on the country, demanding the return of the IDF soldiers.

July 13: The Katyusha barrages increase; Israelis are wounded and killed. Israel continues to bomb Lebanon?s infrastructure in order to increase the Lebanese government?s pressure on Hizb?allah.

July 13: Hizb?allah fires rockets at Israelis throughout the Galilee. For the first time rockets also hit Haifa.

July 14: The Lebanese government expresses support for Hizb?allah?s actions and appeals to the United Nations Security Council to intervene.

July 14: US President George W. Bush comes out in full support of Israel; says the answer is for Hizb?allah to lay down its arms and return the kidnapped soldiers.

July 14: Gunfire is aimed at Israel from Syria. Israel warns Damascus it will respond. Syrian President Bashar Assad comes out in full support of Hizb?allah?s actions against Israel.

July 14: Iran warns Israel will pay a painful price if it attacks Syria.

July 15: More rockets hit Haifa and, for the first time, Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee.

July 15: Israel deploys Patriot Anti-missile missiles in Haifa.

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