Fresh rocket barrage wounds several in Haifa area

HAIFA, Israel (Reuters) – A barrage of rockets fired by Hizbollah guerillas slammed into the city of Haifa and other parts of northern Israel on Wednesday, wounding several people, police and medics said.

One rocket landed near a car, seriously wounding a driver, medics said.

Rockets also landed in the towns of Acre, Carmiel and Safed. One struck an empty apartment while another struck an electric appliance warehouse, wounding several people lightly.

The fresh strike came as the United Nations chief aid official, Jan Egeland, was visiting the coastal city, a favored Hizbollah target.

 

 

Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has vowed to take the war deeper into Israel, suggesting there could be strikes at cities south of Haifa. Such use of longer-range missiles would likely trigger massive Israeli retaliation.

Hizbollah rockets have killed 18 civilians across northern Israel since the conflict erupted when the militia seized two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a cross-border raid on July 12.

Israel’s offensive against the Shi’ite group has killed 418 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians.