Dashcam: Hezbollah anti-tank missile strike on northern Israel
(Video: Alex Duchman)
Hezbollah is intensifying efforts to strike civilians in the Israeli security zone in the Galilee, no longer focusing solely on military targets. This raises concerns in the communities along the confrontation line, which have been facing increasingly frequent shooting incidents targeting civilians in recent weeks.
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On Saturday, an anti-tank missile was fired at a civilian jeep near Kfar Szold and missed it by several feet. Last week, Hezbollah terrorists fired an anti-tank missile at an elderly Israeli man who went to pray at the Iqrit Church during Christmas, and throughout the past week, firing squads from Lebanon bombarded homes in Metula, Margaliot and also chicken coops in Moshav Dovev.
Hezbollah firing at Israeli homes in propaganda clip
"There are too many shooting incidents that are very hard to connect to military matters anymore," said Giora Zaltz, head of the Upper Galilee Regional Council, clearly indicating that his communities have been the focus of Hezbollah fire in recent weeks.
He believes that "the military tries to portray the conflict here as solely between military forces and Hezbollah, but it's obvious that the organization no longer selects their targets as they did initially. Anti-tank squads are lying in wait, ready to shoot at whatever they aim for. The shooting at chicken farmers collecting eggs in Margaliot and Dovev is a classic example of this."
Since the outbreak of the war, northern roads visible from Lebanon have been closed to military traffic, and last week they were even shut to civilian traffic for two days.
Zaltz explains that "while Hezbollah looks for military targets, when it doesn't find them, it targets civilians. In their view, anyone in the Israeli security zone is military. The more the security zone extends into the country, the more we will take."
Over the weekend, Hezbollah released a propaganda clip showing strikes on civilian homes in the Mount Tsfiya neighborhood of Metula. At least three houses were hit by precise firing.
"On Monday afternoon, I was in the safe room when suddenly two anti-tank missiles shook the entire house and caused a lot of damage," described a Metula resident whose home was hit by the firing, which the terrorist organization meticulously recorded and distributed.
He is convinced that "they are targeting civilians and journalists, not adhering to any imaginary agreement on warfare between two military organizations."
Moshe Davidovich, head of the Confrontation Line Settlements Forum and leader of the Mateh Asher Regional Council, said the military strives to portray the northern front as a military campaign.
"The assertion that Hezbollah is only trying to harm IDF soldiers is outdated. The incident indeed began with skirmishes between the army and terror squads, but the escalation in recent weeks shows that they are not just seeking soldiers but any civilian within the range of an anti-tank missile."
86 days have passed since the outbreak of the war, with Hamas's massacre in the south and Hezbollah's missile fire in the north. About 80,000 residents of the Galilee were evacuated or left their homes independently and do not intend to return until it's ensured that Hezbollah can no longer carry out its plans to conquer the Galilee and until they are sure they won't face a fate similar to the residents of Gaza border communities.
"The Israeli government is committed to taking a stand and clearing a security zone on the Lebanese side, one that won't allow direct firing at the state's settlements," demanded Davidovich.
He said, "A strip of about 10 kilometers must be cleared of bunkers, underground tunnels, launch pits and ammunition, and the Lebanese army, along with an international force, needs to be present in this sector. This is the only thing that will bring the northern residents back home, and it should have been done yesterday."
Against the backdrop of a day of concentrated strikes led by Israeli air and artillery forces in southern Lebanon, Zaltz added that the military seeks to impair Hezbollah's capabilities, but we must not delude ourselves that this limited and restrained warfare will change the current reality.
"The military is acting more than ever, not just in response but also in initiating fire toward carefully marked quality and precise targets," he said. He further noted that "still, this only scratches the surface of Hezbollah's strength and neither deters nor significantly impacts its capabilities."