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WAR: Four rockets fired at northern Israel; IDF retaliates

By Lyn Leahz on August 22, 2013 • ( 0 )

One projectile falls on outskirts of a residential area, another downed by Iron Dome; some residents treated for shock; northerners told to remain in bomb shelters

By Times of Israel staff August 22, 2013, 4:51 pm

One of four rockets fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, Thursday, August 22, 2013 (photo credit: Channel 2)

Four rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel on Thursday afternoon. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. The IDF promptly retaliated, attacking targets in south Lebanon, Lebanese media reported.

The red alert siren sounded in the cities of Nahariya, Acre, and Kiryat Shmona, and residents reported hearing explosions.

One of the rockets fell on the outskirts of a small town near Nahariya. An Israeli Iron Dome battery intercepted a second rocket, Channel 2 reported. It was initially unclear where the two other rockets fell.

Several residents were treated for shock.

Lebanese media reported that two volleys of rockets had been fired from a Palestinian refugee camp near Tyre into Israel. There was an attempt to fire a third volley, but the missiles fell short of the border.

A resident of Kibbutz Evron, near Nahariya, told Ynet that the alarm sounded only after “two booms” were heard, and that the residents quickly moved into bomb shelters.

“I heard booms,” Yan, a resident of Nahariya told Channel 2. “Everyone is in the bomb shelters.”

He said that residents hadn’t heard alarms for seven years — since the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

“I was on the phone to my grandma” when the alarms rang out. “I put down the phone and went down to the shelter,” he said.

There were reports Wednesday in Lebanon that Israeli helicopters had circled in southern Lebanon.

The army said it was looking into the incident and called on northern residents to remain in bomb shelters. It said it was treating the attack as a local incident that wouldn’t lead to a breakout of hostilities.

Damage from a rocket that fell near Nahariya, Thursday, August 22, 2013 (photo credit: Channel 2)

Rocket fire is a key tactic of the Lebanese Hezbollah and other terror groups on Israel’s northern and southern borders.

Thousands of rockets fell on Israel during the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006, and Hezbollah has since stockpiled tens of thousands of rockets it has said will be launched at Israeli cities in future fighting.

Israel last week deployed a sixth Iron Dome battery north of Tel Aviv, with an eye to the missile threat from the north.

The anti-missile system is a keystone in Israel’s air defense array and successfully intercepted hundreds of short- and medium-range missiles shot at Israeli cities during a brief round of fighting with Gaza in November.