Saturday, July 15, 2006

Motzei Shabbat/Saturday Night Roundup.

Well, I guess I can't say I'm surprised by this past Shabbat's events. Getting a beeper in the middle of Maariv on Friday night (just when starting to say Shma) can never be a good sign.

Here are the main stories from this past Friday evening through Saturday night -- not neccessarily in chronological order.

Since the start of the Hizbolla shelling of Northen Israel, over 500 people have been wounded as a result of over 700 Katyusha rockets and mortars. Keep these numbers in mind when you hear the World media chastise Israel for a "disproportionate response". (Hebrew sources via rotter.net and YNET). See table in Hebrew of identified Katyusha rockets hits by city.

1. Shabbat afternoon and evening. For the first time in years (since the 1948 war?) Tibereas/Tverya on the Western edge of the Sea of Galilee was hit by a barrage of Katyusha rockets; Total 54 wounded, lots of damaged homes. (Ynet)

2. Israel Naval boat targeted by Hizbolla terrorists, who launched an Iranian made C802 guided missile. This surface to surface guided cruise missile has a range of 120 kilometers, flies as low as five meters above the surface of the sea in its terminal phase, has a speed of 1,013 kilometers per hour -- and carries a warhead of 165 kg. (363 lb.) of explosives.

This missile struck the Israel warboat 16 Kilometers (about 10 miles) off the shores of Beirut, Lebanon. 4 soldiers were declared "missing" -- one of their bodies has been recovered so far. What makes this incident so severe is that Israeli military intellignce was unaware that Hizbolla even had this sort of missile in it's arsenal, and the anti-rocket systems on the Israeli warboat were not activated. During preparations for the Friday evening meal at 8:30 PM, the missile hit the boat. (Data from Ynet, here, and here)

Confirmed Killed in Action:
First Sergeant Tal Amgar 21, of Ashdod

Missing Sailors:
Sergeant Yaniv Herschkowitz, 21, of Haifa
Corporal Shai Atias, 19, of Rishon Lezion
Master Sergeant Dov Sternshus, 37, of Carmiel


3. In Meiron, a Grandmother and grandson were killed by a Friday night Katyusha attack. The victims are Yehudit Itzkovitz, 58, and Omer Paschov, 7 (visiting from Nahariya) [yeshanews]


4. IDF data revealed that the largest number of Katyusha rockets so far has hit the city of Safed. About 34 rockets hit Safed in the past few days, while 24 rockets fell in Nahariya. Three Patriot batteries, aimed at intercepting ballistic missiles, were deployed in Haifa. Patriot missiles were stationed across the country for the last time in 2003 during the Iraq War. IDF sources said that the batteries’ deployment is the result of “an evaluation of the situation." (Ynet)

5. 10:00 PM - 11:00 PM Saturday night; Rockets target Kiryat Shmona and Carmiel. No injuries reported.


Shavua Tov, A good week!


Good night...from Israel.

Jameel.


Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

14 comments:

Steg (dos iz nit der šteg) said...

ה' ישמור

how effective are those Patriot missiles?
i seem to remember not-quite-so-positive comments about them back in the Gulf War.

Jameel @ The Muqata said...

Steg: The Israeli Arrow "missile interception system" is much better, since it hits the incoming rockets farther away from it's intended target.

I'm not sure if the Patriots are actually capable of hitting these smaller rockets (they are probably even bigger than the incoming ones).

Lets hope the IAF gets them before they launch.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Shavua tov, thanks for all the updates. Reading that table is troubling, its very hard to get the sense from the news (both Israeli online and international) of how many rockets have actually been launched.

As an aside, I don't think they are placing the Patriot barrages for the katyushot, its like trying to take out a fly with a shotgun (not to dismiss the damage they inflict). But from what I have read its on new intelligence of other possible rockets and targets in the arsenal.

Anonymous said...

It is not a good night -and I fear not a good week.
Ground forces will be necessary to have long-term effect.How wimpy and fearful are the 'great generals-Barak and Sharon -allowing this to happen.

Anonymous said...

Just for clarification--the soldiers killed and missing off the naval boat, were they Tzahal assigned to the boat in addition to its regular naval crew, or does Israeli military terminology not differentiate between sailors and soldiers?

To quote the Tzedrayter Rebbe:
"Take two Tehillim and call Hashem in the morning."

Sarah Likes Green said...

thanks Jameel.

Shavua Tov.

Anonymous said...

Right after Shabbos, my browser turns to you. You beat all of the news sites.

Thanks for keeping us informed.

Lawyer-Wearing-Yarmulka said...

The Patriots are there in case Hezbollah tries to launch any of its larger missles. The Patriot can't intercept a Kyatusha.

Anonymous said...

Muqata Man, what can I say about whats going on? Nothing, other than Shabbat just came out a few minutes ago and I quickly opened up your site.

PsychoToddler said...

How do so many rockets get launched? Can't they figure out where they're coming from and take them out?

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Anonymous said...
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