New Barrage of Rockets Hits Southern Israel

By Anshel Pfeffer (Haaretz) August 24, 2011

A renewed barrage of rockets hit Israel’s south on Wednesday evening. Two grad rockets fell in open areas, one near Ofakim and one south of Ashkelon. Rockets also fell in the Eshkol Regional Council. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

The IDF Home Front Command called on residents of Eshkol and Sha’ar Hanegev to remain indoors, and announced the cancellation of the “Breeze” music festival that was due to take place Wednesday evening. The announcement came only two hours after the Home Front Command said residents can return to their daily routine.

Also on Wednesday, security officials said that the Islamic Jihad operative who was killed in an IAF airstrike early Wednesday morning was responsible for transfer of funds used in last Thursday’s attacks.

The operative was identified as 34-year-old Ismael al-Asmar. Security officials said that the decision was made to target al-Asmar due to intelligence that he was planning to initiate another attack from Sinai in the coming days.

For more, see Haaretz.com

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