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Katyusha fire has returned to Israel's northern border with Lebanon.
At least four Katyusha rockets hit northwestern Israel, in the area of the coastal city of Nahariya, around 7:35 a.m., Thursday morning, January 8, 2009. One of the missiles hit the roof of an old age facility in Nahariya.
Later in the morning, at approximately 11:00 a.m., two Katyusha rockets also exploded near the town of Shlomi, a town of approximately 5,100 residents. On July 12, 2006, the town was hit by a barrage of Katyushas fired by Hizbullah terrorists as a diversion while operatives carried out a cross-border raid elsewhere along Israel's northern border. Two IDF reservists, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, were kidnapped during that raid, which ultimately ignited the Second Lebanon War.
The IDF has been on alert for rocket fire from Hizbullah since the beginning of Operation Cast Lead and has been investigating areas of impact and searching for the source of the rocket fire. Schools in Nahariyah were ordered closed, and Lebanon also closed schools in Beirut out of fear of IDF retaliation.
Two elderly people from the old-age facility are being treated in Nahariya Hospital for light shrapnel wounds in the legs, and four others are being treated for shock.
The Home Front Command has ordered residents to enter shelters.
Hizbullah's Al Manar television station reported that Israel retaliated with five mortar shells, and the IDF confirmed that artillery fire was aimed at the source of the rocket firings.
Hizbullah has smuggled in from Syria three times more rockets than it possessed before the Second Lebanon War two years ago. It has not taken responsibility for the rocket attacks, which may have been initiated by another terrorist group with the approval of Hizbullah. Israeli media reported that the rockets were older models and probably were fired by a small terrorist group.
SOURCE: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/
NAHARIYA, Israel Residents of this northern Israeli town awoke Thursday to one of their country's worst nightmares: Rockets from Lebanon, and the possibility of a second front in a battle that has raged for two weeks in Gaza.
 Israeli woman Tili Arizon, 78, left, returns to her damaged room to collect some of her belongings after the retirement home she lives in was hit by a rocket fired from south Lebanon, in the northern Israeli town of Nahariya, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009. Lebanese militants fired at least three rockets into northern Israel early Thursday, threatening to open a second front for the Jewish state as it pushed forward with its offensive in the Gaza Strip. Gaza militants fired a rocket barrage into southern Israel almost simultaneously. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
A hole is seen in the roof of a retirement home that was hit by a rocket fired from south Lebanon, in the northern Israeli town of Nahariya, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009. Lebanese militants fired at least three rockets into northern Israel early Thursday, threatening to open a second front for the Jewish state as it pushed forward with its offensive in the Gaza Strip. Gaza militants fired a rocket barrage into southern Israel almost simultaneously. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) |