When Rockets Come - War Diary

A reporter's notebook entry, a little too up-close-and-personal for family and friends

So, this just happened:

Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon just fired a barrage of either rockets or exploding UAV drones at Tzfat and the environs in northern Israel.

My phone and desktop alert apps both pinged into life.

In parallel, being close by (the "me" on the map - about five miles away as the crow flies), we heard the booms from both the Iron Dome defensive interceptors hitting the incoming rockets, and the duller thuds of the impacts in "open areas" between Tzfat and Meron, just to the west.

The Fire Service reports about 10 incoming projectiles, and four brush fires set off from the burning debris from the impacts.

I have scores of friends living under that lethal fireworks display, including Eliezer Zusya, who managed to film the event while either herding his sheep or visiting the tomb of 2nd Century Talmudic sage near town. Check his FB page to see his clip.

As I ran outside of our house to see the not-too-distant puffs of smoke of aerial strikes, my belt-on Motorola regional council walkie-talkie squawked with instructions by officials to have residents enter protected spaces for ten minutes pending developments.

My wife's son and daughter-in-law, and their three small children - our grandchildren - were having dinner hour and baths as the booming rocket barrage detonated overhead. I called them - they're fine, considering - but I'm not, hence this entry. Thanks for allowing me to type this out as quickie therapy.

This wasn't some random "tit-for-tat" volley against IDF forces at a hilltop border outpost - no, this was an intentional attempt to kill, main, and terrorize tens of thousands of civilians and wreak stressful havoc on a major city in northern Israel.

PS: the #fckrs failed: grandkids are, presumably, bathed and bedward. Maybe shaken, but hopefully not traumatized by the warfare overhead.

PSS: the IDF didn't: since the outset of Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel since Oct. 8 (and many times prior to that) the Army and Air Force have been systematically picking off Hezbollah leaders, field commanders, rocket and invasion crews, rocket and ammo, command and control, and related sites throughout southern Hezbollastan - AKA southern Lebanon, and related sites far to the north - not to mention eliminating Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah’s most senior military commander and the head of the organization’s strategic array on July 30 in southern Beirut:

”The attack was carried out in response to a rocket fired by Hezbollah which hit the Druze village of Majdal Shams and killed 12 children and teenagers. Hezbollah confirmed the death of Shukr, aka Sayyed Muhsen, stating that he was one of Hezbollah’s founders and had led its military operations against Israel, especially since the beginning of the current fighting on October 8, 2023.” - from the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information

And that, in short, is the difference: the terror leaders in Tehran, Beirut, Gaza, and elsewhere, are intentionally trying to kill my family and countrymen, and terrify us into fleeing (they didn't, we're not), while Israel military and intelligence forces are going after the hostile monsters themselves - and not their non-combatants.

Apologies for this admittedly ragged account; it's not a polished report, but it is first-hand, sincere and trustworthy.

Thanks for reading and your support.