Israeli military shows rocket-scarred town near-empty close to border with Lebanon

(25 Sep 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kiryat Shmona, Israel - 25 September 2024
1. Wide of white smoke trails of an Iron Dome interception launch
2. Various of gas clouds leftover from midair interceptions of projectiles fired from Lebanon
3. Close of shrapnel puncture in side of building used to store emergency supplies for Kiryat Shmona's underground shelters
4. Wide of the emergency supplies warehouse struck on September 24, 2024 by a rocket from Lebanon
5. Pan right wide of the badly damaged warehouse
6. Various of smoldering wreckage
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Maj. Doron Spielman, Israeli army spokesperson:
"The threat from Hezbollah is seven or eight kilometers away which is only maybe five miles away. We can see the mountain range behind me - just beyond that there are Hezbollah terrorists with the rockets firing volleys. Fifty rockets were fired at once into this area, which even the best missile defense system, which Israel has, cannot defeat all of them. You can see behind me: this is the reality of Hezbollah's threat on Israel. If this was a home, the entire family would've been killed, which is why Israel is at war until these people can come back home."
++JUMP CUT++
8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Maj. Doron Spielman, Israeli army spokesperson:
"There's no evidence that Hezbollah has been willing to leaving the border with Israel. Hezbollah's entire raison d'etre is to invade and attack Israel. Hezbollah has been pushed back from the border by seven kilometers, which is part of the process, we're one-third of the way there, to give a little bit of breathing room to the state of Israel."
++JUMP CUT++
9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Maj. Doron Spielman, Israeli army spokesperson:
"What we are insisting on, is that Hezbollah abide by international agreements which say they withdraw beyond the Litani River which is about three times this distance, which will enable the residents of Israel to more back into their homes. No one is going to bring their families back into an area where within seconds their entire home can be shattered and blown to pieces."
10. Wide of Kiryat Shmona highway sign
11. Various of home badly damaged in late 2023 by a rocket
12. Wide of home with a damaged veranda that was hit by a Grad rocket earlier in 2024
13. Close of hole punched in the building's wall by the rocket
14. Close of the interior of the hole
15. Wide of burnt couch and personal items in the home
16. Close of newspapers charred on the ground of the home
17. Wide of couch burnt to its frame
18. Wide of bus moving down the street
19. Wide of a truck moving down the street
20. Mid of tattered Israeli flag flapping in the wind
STORYLINE:
The Israeli military took journalists on a tour of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel on the border with Lebanon.

Its residents were some of the approximately 60-thousand Israelis evacuated from the border after months of cross-border fighting.

Israeli military spokesperson Major Doron Spielman said the residents would only return if Hezbollah is as far as the Litani River, some 30 kilometers away.

He showed journalists an emergency supplies warehouse blown up Tuesday in a massive barrage of 50 rockets that overwhelmed Israel's vaunted Iron Dome system with one getting through to strike the warehouse.

He also showed two homes damaged in the early days of the war that remain charred and broken nearly a year after war broke out between the two old foes following Hezbollah's regional ally Hamas' attack inside Israel on October 7, 2023.





AP video by Sam McNeil

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