Deadly rocket strike on Golan Heights
(Video: Avihu Shapira)
Residents of the Golan Heights were outraged on Tuesday night after a couple was killed in their car when it took a direct hit from a Hezbollah rocket. The Iran-backed terror group targeted the area with a heavy barrage of at least 40 rockets after an official in the group - the former bodyguard of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah - was killed in a drone strike attributed to Israel, near Syria's border with Lebanon.
Communities in the Golan have been under fire from Hezbollah for the past several months and have not been instructed to evacuate or provided means to compensate them for the losses they incurred. The constant rocket attacks have caused widespread brush fires and caused damage to property, and businesses are failing during nine months of fighting.
The difficulties incurred on the Golan have raised difficult questions about the government's lack of strategy in the north against Hezbollah as the war drags on.
Katzrin Mayor Yehuda Dua on Tuesday said he told political leaders his region is at war. "I looked the decision-makers in the eyes and told them I came there to demand compensation for businesses lost and returned home to the horrors of sirens and interceptions in the ongoing war," he said. "This is our reality, our routine, and the government is being negligent in the face of this brutal enemy. The only option to beat terror is by force."
"The writing was on the wall," head of the Golan regional council Uri Kelner said. "In the past weeks we've called out to the government repeatedly to break the cycle and tonight we saw the result of delaying decisions with hundreds of rockets landing and endangering the lives of civilians."
A forum of civilians evacuated from the north also called on the government to take action after civilians were killed. "The right to live in security is basic," the forum said. "Without a strong north, Israel is not strong. We ask the government to work with us and end to these events immediately."