‘Every day we play Russian roulette’

ELIEZER Asulin lives alone in the remains of his home, half-destroyed by a direct hit from a Hezbollah rocket fired from Lebanon.

It was just one of 1,200 rockets the guerrilla group has rained down on northern Israel in the past two weeks, killing 17 civilians and causing tens of thousands to flee south.

Those that have stayed behind, either for work or to protect their homes, now feel like they are gambling with their lives.

“Every day we play Russian roulette even before we wake up,” says Asulin, a truck driver from Safed, which sits 12 km (7.5 miles) from the Lebanese border and has been one of the prime targets of rocket fire over the past 14 days.

“I am only here to save whatever is left of my belongings,” said the 48-year-old as he bought fruit in the only store left open in the town, where around 30,000 people used to live.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert highlighted the problems of the north at a news conference with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday, saying the situation had become intolerable for more than one million people.

He pledged to pursue his offensive against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and the bombardment of other parts of the country, a conflict that has killed around 380 Lebanese, the vast majority of them civilians.

As well as the 17 Israeli civilians killed, 24 troops have also died in the fighting, which began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a raid on July 12.