Following Sunday's escalation during which Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets at Katzrin, causing major fires in the area, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority reported that approximately 2,500 acres of land were engulfed in flames in the attack. According to estimates, the recovery of some of the areas completely burned in the large fire - especially in tourist trails in the area - will take several years.
Sharon Levy, director of the Golan Heights region at the Nature and Parks Authority, said that the fire caused significant damage to the Yehudiya Forest Nature Reserve and also to the Zavitan Stream. "This is significant damage, not a small fire. A fire of 10,000 acres is a big fire. Nature has the ability to recover, but the larger the fire, the slower the recovery. It takes years, with trees and animals affected. Some things recover within a year, and some within several years but the area will recover eventually."
The fires broke out on Sunday following Hezbollah launches around noon toward Katzrin, the largest city in the Golan Heights. Fifteen firefighting teams worked for hours to gain control of the flames, with six firefighting planes. Additional fires also broke out on Sunday in Kiryat Shemona,
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Fires in the north after Hezbollah launches
(Photo: Eitan Nissim/ Nature and Parks Authority)
Recently, due to the ongoing rocket launches from Lebanon, firefighters have been forced to repeatedly put out fires around the border. Also, Lebanon reported fires in southern Lebanon following IDF strikes. Thousands of Israeli residents are now in Hezbollah's range after the terror organization expanded its rocket range to Katzrin, Nahariya and Acre.
"We feel the north is in trouble," a Katzrin resident said on Monday. "It's closing on us, and we feel there's no real answer or response to this situation. We feel it's getting worse," he said about Hezbollah's launches. According to him, residents expect the government to address the issues in the north, not just the south. "The north is somewhat neglected and abandoned. Although we're strong people, we love our country, love our land, and love each other, we want to feel someone has our backs."
Nahariya and Acre are also dealing with the rockets from Lebanon. In Acre, there hadn't been a siren for four months, and Nahariya hadn't experienced a siren for five consecutive months. On Sunday, Nahariya residents rushed to safe zones three times and a Hezbollah drone attacked the city for the first time.
"Fear reigns here in Nahariya," said another city resident, adding that many old buildings in the city lack shelters. He noted that even though he was relatively far from the impact area, he felt the shock. "I felt the wind coming and blowing me away, really like that. It was very frightening."
Fire near Qatsrin
(Video: Effie Sharir)
An Acre resident said the siren caught him and his family while they were on the balcony. "This siren and the crazy boom at 6 p.m. caught us unprepared," he said. "A crazy boom shook the entire house. Within five seconds, we were in the shelter, the children trembling, the mothers trembling. We're in their range now."
He also noted that there aren't enough protected spaces in older schools in the city, expressing concern about the economic implications. "Soon the aid will run out, and the state will need to distribute grants, which they haven't done since January. Until January, we received grants, but ever since, everything stopped."
"They cut the budgets, and for five months now, we've been fighting every day for our salary, for our mortgage, for anything. There are no discounts in utilities from the Interior Ministry, no consideration with taxes, they collect taxes as usual from all freelancers, and they don't understand that if they don't give you a grant, then they should at least lower taxes," he added.