Email from Galilee

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  1. See Post

    See Post New Member

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    Originally Posted By dlkozy

    I thought that I would share this email with my friends at LP. This was sent to me by a friend who has dear friends in Galilee. It is the straight scoop and not a doctored version coming from the major news stations or CNN.

    >>>"Update from Ann in Galilee, Aug. 3rd.

    Hello all, and thank you for your tolerance when I let off steam the
    other day. Today is Tisha b'Av, a day of mourning for the destruction of
    the first and second temples in Jerusalem. It is a day when we remember
    past attempts to destroy the Jewish people, so it is especially
    poignant today.

    Israel's self-imposed pause didn't last very long. It started at 2am
    and already in the morning there were katushyas, albeit a lot less than
    we normally get. By about noon or so Israel had already bombed targets
    in southern Lebanon in support of ground troops, so the pause lasted
    less than 6 hours. Even so, there was considerably less air activity for
    those 48 hours.

    Monday night / Tuesday morning Israeli attacked about ten Lebanese
    towns simultaneously, whereas before we had been attacking only one place
    at a time. Most of these towns sit up on a series of ridges, so they
    control the highground and can control the flats below them on either
    side. All of them are Hisballah operational centers, and all have been used
    for launching rockets and mortars. Our goal is to take control of these
    towns first, then clean out the areas between them and the Israeli
    border later. We are trying to push the Hisballa back far enough to reduce
    the places their rockets can reach within Israel, which is what the
    1982 war was all about, and the Litani Operation in the late 70s. We also
    want to be in control of as much strategic area as possible before the
    international troops, whoever they may be, are brought in. I think that
    this change in tactics (before we were only focusing on one village at
    a time) was a result of the extremely stormy meeting which our !
    prime minister had with the 7 members of his special military advisory
    committee on Monday afternoon. Israeli reporters said that they could
    hear the shouting out in the foyer where they were waiting.

    Tuesday morning about 3 am I am pretty sure that I saw my son on Fox
    news. I knew he had gone into Lebanon just west of Metulla, to the area
    around Taibe (Altaybeh). The news clip was filmed through a green night
    lense and showed soldiers getting ready to go in. I saw him twice for
    just an instant. I am not 100ure it was him because it was at night and
    his face was painted green, but he had the same hair, the same ears and
    the same walk. It was really exciting to see him, if I ignored the
    "why" part of it.

    On Tuesday there were already rockets fairly regularly throughout the
    day. We have been averaging about 100 rockets a day throughout the
    north.

    Wednesday morning everything changed. I had been up all night following
    the reports of the Baalbek raid and the fighting in Taibe (Altaybeh),
    where Bryan is. I went to bed about 8 in the morning. Just after 9 in
    the morning we were told to go to the shelters immediately. Within about
    40 minutes we got over 70 rockets just in our area alone (around
    Tiberius and the Golani Junction). Several fell in houses, on main streets,
    etc. A lot fell in the upper part of Tiberius, including one by the Paz
    gas station and another by the turnoff to the the road that goes to the
    hospital. One fell about 100 meters from my friend Gary's house, which
    is just a couple of streets above where Reuben, Susan and Mary Kahn
    live. Another fell by the bank in Kfar Tabor. Another fell near Kanaf on
    the Golan. We also got several quite close to us. We think that one fell
    on the hill behind us which separates the Beduoin camp from Migdal. It
    was intense. There were another 70-80 rockets around the rest o!
    f the north as well. Laurie and Todd, one fell in Dir El Asad, the
    Druze village where you stayed, the one with the great breakfast. The area
    of Haifa didn't get hit, but the areas to the east did.

    Also, in the early hours of Wednesday morning (1-2 am) Israeli
    helicopters dropped paratroopers into the northern Lebanese city of Baalbek.
    Baalbek is on my list of places I would love to see for decades, but that
    is besides the point. Baalbek is the spiritual center of the Hisballa,
    the city where they were founded, and where many of their top leaders
    live. Israel had received credible information that our two soldiers,
    whose kidnapping triggered the war, were being held in Baalbek. Three or
    four groups of paratroopers were dropped at different sites around the
    city, the most important being a private "hospital". There were several
    hours of fighting, and the Hisballa kept reporting that they had
    captured soldiers and had others "trapped", plus they had shot down a
    helicopter. In reality, Israel captured several of their leaders and returned
    safely home a few hours later. At the military briefing which we get
    nearly every evening from the army, they showed the films not only!
    of the troops landing, but also some of what they found in the
    "hospital" : anti-tank missiles inside of filing cabinets (the anti-tank
    missiles are just slightly larger than hand grenades), kalatchnikov rifles,
    recoiless rifles, etc. There was no sign of anything even remotely
    medical-looking. Even the beds were large, and set inside very ornate
    rooms. Outside, the building looked like a villa. In addition to the
    information which the captured fighters may provide, the attack was a huge
    morale boost for Israel, and a huge morale blow to the Hisballa.

    The rockets seem to be taking a break for a bit. A few minutes ago the
    phone rang and the caller identified herself as Bryan's company clerk.
    I had a short heart attack. She immediately reassured me and said that
    she was "just" calling all the parents to let them know that their sons
    were okay, to ask if we had any messages for them, and to wish us
    Shabbat Shalom. I wanted to kiss her feet. She explained that none of them
    had phones because they were "deep inside Lebanon", but that all were
    well and accounted for. I thanked her probably about a thousand times
    (she was very sweet) and then had a short but intense cry for a couple of
    minutes after I hung up. You can find plenty to complain about here,
    but the acts of true kindness like this are why I love this country.
    Bless that clerk! And bless her parents too!"<<<
     

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