They say Metula is the most bombed town in Israel. You needn’t be there for long to see why.
The Israeli military has kept the area closed for much of the war, telling journalists it’s been too dangerous to visit.
Metula is surrounded on three sides by the border with Lebanon and therefore Hezbollah, the enemy.
It has been constantly bombarded. Anti-tank missiles, suicide drones, Burkan rockets, and Iranian-built Grad missiles have all come its way.
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IDF soldiers take cover as missile warning alarms ring
The alarms went off a quarter of an hour after we arrived accompanied by the sound of missiles being intercepted overhead. The same happened repeatedly while we were there.
Our Israeli military escorts hit the ground as sirens went off while we walked the streets of the town. Metula is so close to Lebanon there can be only a few seconds warning, rarely enough to reach the shelters.
Seconds later the white streak of Israeli Iron Dome rockets over our heads and the sound of their collision with incoming missiles.
Israel’s Iron Dome in action. Pic: Reuters
But the sound of fighting just over the border that erupted after Israel’s invasion on the 1 October this year has subsided.
There is quiet where there was the rattle of small arms fire and attack helicopters.
Locals say Hezbollah has been pushed back from the border.
The missiles keep coming through though and the few Israelis who’ve remained in this deserted town welcome Israel’s incursion over the border, saying it should continue until Hezbollah is defeated.
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Israeli soldiers in a military vehicle in northern Israel. Pic: Reuters
‘I think we need to destroy Hezbollah’
Lior Bez’s family have lived in Metula for three generations.
Why live in Israel’s most bombed town I asked him. Because it’s beautiful he said, not with rockets but it was once and will be again.
How long should Israel stay inside Lebanon?
“Until it will be quiet. Until we will finish Hezbollah. I think we need to destroy Hezbollah to finish them, all their organisation and after that it will be peace and it can be done,” he said.
That is the sentiment of many.
Their government has led them to believe it is possible.
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Hezbollah is degraded but retains fighters and missiles
In reality, Hezbollah has been massively degraded but retains tens of thousands of fighters and even more missiles.
We were the first journalists invited to Metula since the war began, coming the closest to Lebanon’s border since Israel’s invasion. That may be a sign of Israel’s confidence about the progress it’s making over the border.
But Israel’s American allies are reported to have warned against overconfidence and overreach.
Achieving their war aims, returning Israelis to their homes in the north, will require a diplomatic solution says the Biden administration. From our view from the border that seems a long way off.
Israel has still not allowed journalists to report independently from inside Gaza unless they are invited as part of an embed with the IDF.