Eilon, Tuesday, August 16, 2006
Hello friends
Late yesterday afternoon Debby and I traveled to Nahariya. It was the first time that we had been "out" since this conflict began. The city was not as crowded as it normally is, but most businesses were open. I think the cause for this is that the city is still being repopulated by citizens who had fled south and because most businesses are normally closed on Tuesday.
Driving down the Ga'aton, we did not see any tangible sign that the city had been overtaken by war. It is possible that the supermarket on Herzl and Ga'aton may have lost some of its display windows, because some frames were boarded up.
North of Nahariya people were already crowding the narrow beach. Lines of cars were parked along the shore. We did see a few scorched fields that ignited as a result of an explosion, such as that by Sa'ar, where Dave, the former catcher, had been killed.
The western artillery battery is still in place, and I suspect that it will be a few weeks before all the artillery units will pack up and roll south. That of course depends on the realization of the cease-fire agreement or how the agreement is holding up in the field.
One of Noam's childhood friends, who is in the infantry, was engaged in a fierce fire-fight on the outskirts of one of the south Lebanese towns. According to Noam the unit came under withering automatic fire laced with anti-tank rockets, a Hezbollah favorite. Paired in groups, Noam's friend's companion was directly hit by one of these anti-tank missiles with the most horrific outcome. He had been just a meter from Noam's friend, who literally escaped unscathed but so shaken up by this specter that he was removed from the battlefield and hospitalized briefly. He is home now on a week-long furlough.
Barry.