Three katyusha rockets were fired at northern Israel on Sunday evening, 8 Teves.  Only one of the rockets landed in Israel, B’chasdei Hashem without resulting in fatalities, injuries or property damage.

The strikes came in response to an aerial attack in Syria less than 24 hours earlier, an attack that claimed the life of Hizbullah commander Samir Kuntar and other terrorists, an attack attributed to Israel.

Expecting addition rocket fire, some northern residents called on local leaders to open public bomb shelters despite the instructions from the IDF Homefront Command to the contrary. The Homefront Command instructed residents to remain calm and not to open shelters.

Most analysts feel that Hizbullah will not strike back too harshly, pointing out the killing of Kuntar is not the same as the assassination of Hizbullah Deputy Commander Imad Mughniyeh, which is also attributed to Israel. The experts feel that Hizbullah is too busy with fighting on a number of fronts, including Syria and Yemen and the terrorist regime is not seeking to ignite another front, in this case with Israel. Nevertheless, northern residents preferred to be safe rather than sorry, opening shelters in some areas. In addition, Kuntar, a Druse who converted and became a Shiite, was not viewed as being in the Hizbullah inner circle and a retaliatory attack for his assassination will be more of an obligation rather than Hizbullah striking out of anger and a sense of pride and determination to teach the enemy a lesson.

Photo: Slain Hizbullah commander Kuntar.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)