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(JERUSALEM POST) – Overlooking Kiryat Shmona is a park with an observation tower, constructed decades ago, near fortifications that appear to date from the 1960s. In those days Kiryat Shmona would have been very close to the Syrian-occupied Golan Heights. Today those heights are controlled by Israel and the whole of the Hula Valley can be seen from the observation point.
Saturday was a clear day in the North. In the Hula Valley it is hot, too hot in the afternoon. However, from the observation point over Kiryat Shmona the wind is blowing. The wind comes up the valley from Lebanon. It is a north wind that comes down toward the valley and then sinks and stops as the land dips below sea-level toward the Sea of Galilee.
Kiryat Shmona has been evacuated since mid-October. It is a ghost town. It is entirely quiet on Shabbat, not a car can be heard. Only the chirping of the birds now make a racket here. On the observation point overlooking the city, the quiet is only part of the story. Earlier in the day sirens sounded throughout the morning warning of incoming attacks from Hezbollah.