Quiet Disappears on Israel’s Other Borders

Residents of the northern Israel community of Kiryat Shemona ran to shelters Wednesday morning after enemy crews operating in Lebanon fired three Katyusha rockets across the border.

According to Rabbi Yigal Tzipori, director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Kiryat Shemona, air raid sirens sounded at 8:30 a.m., smack dab in the middle of morning school routines. Teachers throughout the city rushed their students into shelters to wait out the barrage.

Citing security sources, news reports indicated the rockets landed in an open area outside the city, while several residents were treated for shock. The attack came six days after a Katyusha rocket slammed into a nursing home in Nahariya, causing significant damage and light injuries. On Sunday, a lone gunman in Syria fired across the border at Israeli soldiers in the Golan Heights, damaging their vehicle.

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“We successfully brought the more than 200 students learning in our school system into the shelters in 15 seconds,” reported Tzipori. “And then we went to the soup kitchen, the dental clinics, and other Chabad-Lubavitch institutions to check in on the elderly residents.”

Tzipori said that Mayor Nissim Malka called shortly after the attack to assess the situation; the municipality recommended that classes continue, albeit from bomb shelters.

By the afternoon, quiet had returned.

“Everything is back to normal now,” said Tzipori. “The students are back in class; they know what to do when they hear the siren.”