City comes to a standstill as rockets rain

ISRAEL’S third-largest city, Haifa, was plunged into panic, then silence yesterday, following the deadliest missile attack by Hezbollah on Israel since fighting began last week.

Though it wasn’t the first time Haifa was hit in the conflict, residents said they were surprised by the swiftness and violence of the attack, in which advanced Iranian-made missiles showered down on the city, officials said.

The eight killed were standing on a platform next to a train in a maintenance depot when a rocket ripped through the roof above them and exploded, leaving a gaping hole and huge sheets of aluminum swinging in the wind above. Puddles of blood pooled below.

Air raid sirens barely gave people time to get underground before the city echoed with more blasts, residents said.

Some felt this ethnically mixed city with a large Arab population was an odd target for an attack.

Osama Hajir, 51, a resident of an Arab neighbourhood, looked panicked as he quickly bought food in a shop to take to his family.

“They have to put Hezbollah in its place,” he said. “Here the missiles are falling on Jews and Arabs alike.”

Authorities said at least 20 rockets and missiles hit Haifa yesterday, and officials ordered nearly half a million people — everyone from Haifa northward — indoors after the initial barrage.

Later in the day, the streets of this industrial city of some 270,000 people were deserted. Even lions at the zoo were taken indoors out of fear that a rocket would blast a wall and release them into the city.

In underground shelters, residents were glued to their televisions and wondered when it would end.

“The problem is that we don’t know with whom we’re fighting,” said Sharon Goldstein, 34.

“There is Hezbollah but many other countries can get involved, including Syria and Iran.”

Israeli officials say the rockets Hezbollah is using are supplied by those two countries, but have so far said Israel will not attack them. The military campaign is currently focused on getting Lebanon to take control of its southern borders, from where Hezbollah launches its rockets onto Israeli towns and cities.

Haifa is the largest city Hezbollah has hit. It is home to one of Israel’s most important ports, oil refineries and some of its most sensitive industrial facilities, including chemical plants.

“I know that in Haifa they are targeting all factories. They are trying to get them, and ultimately they will get them,” Ms Goldstein said from a bomb shelter buried about 20 yards below a car park.

Life in Haifa had come to a standstill, she said.

“People didn’t go to work today and will definitely not go to work tomorrow.”

The attack signalled that increasingly large swaths of Israeli territory were vulnerable to Hezbollah’s missiles, and residents said they expected the attacks to continue and get worse.

Civilians who dared to go outside were either rushing home, looking for shelter or seeking supplies. Streets usually packed with workers, cars and vendors were almost empty in the middle of the workday.

Haifa had not been hit by a rocket since the first Gulf War in 1991, when Iraq repeatedly launched SCUD missiles at Israel.

Israeli officials said the militants used an Iranian Fajr-3 missile in their attack on the train depot. The missile has a bigger warhead and can fly further than Hezbollah’s usual rockets.

Hezbollah said the attack was a “warning” and that if provoked, it would hit bigger targets in Haifa, including oil refineries and major chemical plants.