Grad rockets were not harmless in Ukraine nor in Israel

Thirty civilians were killed, and scores more wounded, by a small number of unguided Grad rockets launched by pro-Russian separatists, at the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on Saturday.

During the Hamas-Israel conflict, last July and August, thousands of Grad, or Grad-type, rockets were fired towards Israeli civilian areas by Hamas. At that time, anti-Israel commentators dismissed these rockets as being harmless. I even heard one contributor on RTÉ radio refer to them as ‘toys’.

Unfortunately, Grad rockets are only harmless if you are sitting in Ireland.