Perched on the Israel-Lebanon border

Mark Potter Correspondent • E-mail

METULA, Israel - Mark Potter reports from Metula, in northern Israel near the Lebanese border, on Israel’s outgoing attacks on Lebanon and the incoming Hezbollah rockets.

You’ve been up in Metula, in northern Israel near the Lebanese border, for close to a week now. How does the daily pattern of airstrikes play out?

Usually there is a rhythm to the day. It starts off quietly. Then by mid- to late morning the air raid sirens begin and we hear the “thump” of incoming Hezbollah rockets. That will be accompanied by the very loud return of Israeli artillery and tank fire. That usually will go until about midafternoon.

Then it will taper off for a while. Usually we’ll get one more rocket strike by the end of the day. Then around dinnertime it gets quiet again. Then sometimes all night long the Israeli artillery will light up the sky and keep people awake as they pound areas to the north of us in Lebanon.

We are literally just a few hundred yards from the Lebanese border. So the fighting that’s going along in this area is something we hear, and sometimes witness ourselves. But there is usually a rhythm to the day. There are variances, but it follows a pretty predictable pattern.

Who is actually left in the Metula area? Is it just the Israeli military and reporters? Are any civilians left there?

There are a few civilians left in town, although many of them have left. This is a tourist area, but there are no tourists here. So the businesses are hurting. Most of them are closed, but a few of the hotels and restaurants are open and servicing the journalists and a few others.

There are some military people here. There were a lot military people here last week when they were using this as a place to push into Lebanon, but there aren’t so many people here now. They are all spread around the area.

In many ways, this seems like a quiet little Alpine village up in the hills, except for all the noise from the incoming rockets and the outgoing artillery.

There is just a strange mix of senses here. You can sit here under a tree in a courtyard at a hotel with the wind gently blowing through, the sounds of Louis Armstrong are wafting through the hotel speakers and it’s a very pleasant scene.

Then all of a sudden you hear an air raid siren and a warning comes over a loudspeaker telling you to go into a bomb shelter. Then you hear a boom, you hear artillery fire for a while, and then it stops and Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald pick back up again. That to me is very weird.

How close have the rockets come to you guys?

The closest incoming rocket struck today about 500 yards from where we were standing. We were just getting ready to do a live report for MSNBC. We could hear a “woosh” and then a loud bang.

We basically just had time to duck. Although, that was just an instinctive reaction, we didn’t really need to because there was no real danger. But it was a startling noise. It was very loud, and then it started a fire that now is still burning, two hours later.

The irony of this is that the rocket actually hit on the Lebanese side of the border — it never actually made its way into Israel.

As for the Israeli artillery, that’s very close. Some of the pieces are very near our hotel. When they start letting go at night, it’s very, very loud.

It’s funny how you almost get used to it. You’ll be eating dinner and you’re serenaded by the sound of this artillery, and you do get used to it. But every so often one goes off when you aren’t expecting it, and it really makes you jump.

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