NOTHING stirred on the silent, deserted streets as we surveyed the burnt-out wreckage of what was once a family home.
More than 20,000 souls from this former vibrant market city have run for their lives from a rocket and drone blitz and the threat of massacres and rape at the hands of terrorist savages.
But this was not a southern Israeli kibbutz village ransacked by Hamas killers on October 7.
This was the eerie ghost town of Qiryat Shemona yesterday on the northern border with Lebanon, where locals fear horrors which could soon dwarf that day of infamy.
Israel’s Hezbollah enemies in the north pose ten times the threat of Hamas in Gaza, whose savages massacred 1,200 and kidnapped 250 last year.
And tension has spiked along this mountainous frontline in recent days as the Middle East lurches closer towards catastrophic all-out war.
Daily Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks along the frontier have already driven 60,000 people south, leaving behind a no-man’s land of bomb-blasted buildings.
And the chaotic crescendo was continuing to build yesterday, leaving more families packing their bags.
Qiryat Shemona sits in a pocket of Israeli territory flanked on two sides by Hezbollah positions and has been rendered virtually uninhabitable for months by the constant shelling.
But it is just one of 43 Israeli communities along the border that have been evacuated as Hezbollah’s blitz intensified, heralding a terrifying new phase of Israel’s war.
Expert analysts monitoring years of military activity in southern Lebanon warned yesterday that October 7 could soon look “like a picnic” if and when Hezbollah unleashes hell.
Lieutenant Colonel Sarit Zehavi, a former Israeli Defence Force intelligence analyst who has been studying the terror group for decades, told The Sun: “The risk has never been greater.
“Hezbollah has ten times the firepower of Hamas, with a total military force of 50,000 and up to 5,000 elite troops ready to storm across the border.
“They have built miles of tunnels connecting their forces and more attack tunnels to storm into Israel.
“They are cut into solid rock and bigger than the Hamas tunnels — some big enough to drive a truck through — with electric power and even air conditioning.
The risk has never been greater. Hezbollah has ten times the firepower of Hamas, with a total military force of 50,000 and up to 5,000 elite troops ready to storm across the border.
Lieutenant Colonel Sarit Zehavi
“But the biggest threat is posed by the sheer volume of their weapons arsenal. They have more than 200,000 rockets, guided missiles and drones.
“My fear is that they may now have enough to overwhelm the Iron Dome and David’s Sling air defences which protect Israeli towns and cities.
“And once their attack starts, it could go on for months — at the same time as others from Iran, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and from Gaza and the West Bank inside Israel.
“All this is pointed towards us — we are already in a fight for our very existence.”
Zehavi — who runs Israel’s Alma Research Centre studying the Hezbollah threat — has amassed huge files on the group through open-source online research.
And her work unearthed shocking footage which she says showed Hezbollah drew up the blueprint for the October 7 attacks ten years ago.
Video produced by the terror group simulated an attack by Hezbollah Radwan Force troops, who would storm across the border, killing and snatching hostages after fanning out across the north.
The mum-of-five, who still lives close to the border, told The Sun: “I watched video of the Hezbollah battle plan the day after October 7 and realised this was the template for what had just happened in the south. All of the detail was there, including instructions on taking hostages as human shields and causing maximum terror. Other plans included a mission to seize and hold territory and the conquest of the northern Galilee region.
“I realised then that their plan to carry out an October 7-style attack in the north had already been drawn up and was so shocked I immediately evacuated my family.
“Israel Defence Forces are in position across the border and will fight but the threat posed from the north is now huge.”
Verified research suggests that the Hezbollah attack will be spearheaded by the group’s fanatical Radwan fighters, battle-hardened from years of fighting in Syria’s civil war.
The fearsome unit will be nothing like the Hamas rabble, which surged out of Gaza on October 7 — and will pose a serious challenge for Israel’s own crack troops.
The Radwan Force — whose troops wear a distinctive lion-and-sword insignia — emerged in the wake of Hezbollah’s last war with Israel in 2006 and have been trained and equipped by Iran. Its fighters are the toughest and most fanatical recruits to the terror group’s ranks and are trained in hand-to-hand combat, sniper fire, anti-tank warfare, bomb-making and drone attacks.
Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards “Sabeerin” commando unit instructors also tutor the force and put them through gruelling tactical terrorist warfare drills.
Video released by the group shows heavily armed masked men with their hands raised, praying to Allah, before charging into battles, which leave buildings and vehicles in flames.
They will be in the vanguard of the killers and hostage-snatch squads sent across the border after massive rocket and mortar fire aimed at neutralising Israeli surveillance devices along the border.
Analysis also suggests that many Radwan fighters will roar into Israel on motorbikes — just as their Hamas comrades did last year — but on a far greater scale.
Tensions spiked to new heights in Israel yesterday as Gaza ceasefire talks teetered on the brink of collapse and Iran prepared to lead the charge towards its arch enemy.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has agreed to a “bridging” compromise plan aimed at halting the ten-month bloodbath in Gaza and freeing the hostages still trapped there.
“We’re so close to Hezbollah that you have less than ten seconds to take cover once the sirens go off, so it’s a case of hitting the ground and hoping.
Israeli Defence Force Lieutenant Colonel Gideon Harari
But following Netanyahu’s three-hour meeting with visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday, one senior US official accused the embattled leader of making “maximalist statements” that were “not constructive” to delivering a ceasefire deal.
The “bridging” proposal would see key Israeli units remain inside the 25-mile strip controlled by Hamas — and the group’s leader, Yahya Sinwar, looks certain to reject it.
Iran has vowed to avenge the high-profile assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh on its soil last month but has been holding back while the talks go on.
Yet the imminent collapse of the diplomatic efforts leaves the rogue Islamist state poised to exact its bloody revenge — and unleash its Hezbollah allies into northern Israel. Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant visited Lebanese border positions this week and said the “centre of gravity” of military operations was now switching to the north.
Hezbollah launched a salvo of more than 50 rockets and drones at Israel’s Golan Heights region on Wednesday after launching 115 missiles the previous day.
Israel hit back with air strikes on more than ten areas across southern Lebanon, striking weapon depots, military buildings and a Hezbollah rocket launcher.
But the terror group continued its creeping blitz of the north yesterday, including more attacks on Qiryat Shemona. Rocket sirens sounded minutes after The Sun’s team left the city, and more attacks were reported yesterday as the few diehard locals who still refuse to leave were forced to bolt for cover.
We ventured into the ghost town with retired Israeli Defence Force Lieutenant Colonel Gideon Harari, 67, who lives in a nearby village even closer to the border.
Pointing to the blackened shell of a family home and burned-out cars on the drive, Colonel Harari said: “There are 70 homes like this in Qiryat Shemona and people have been killed here.
“Who would bring up their children in a place like this?
“We’re so close to Hezbollah that you have less than ten seconds to take cover once the sirens go off, so it’s a case of hitting the ground and hoping.
This was once a busy market town with shops, schools, playgrounds, bars and cafes — but the few people left here now are living in hell.
“Hezbollah threaten us from two directions and target us with drones and rockets every day to terrorise us.
“Normal life has become impossible and the same story is true in towns and cities all along the border.
“People talk a lot about fears of an all-out war but we are already in a state of war here every day.
“A ceasefire will only enable Hezbollah to re-arm and attack us again . . . nothing will change until they are destroyed.”
OCTOBER 7 terror mastermind Yahya Sinwar is trapped “like a cornered rat” in Gaza and running out of places to hide, Israeli security sources claimed yesterday.
The Hamas leader is now virtually alone and running out of boltholes and henchmen in his shrinking Gaza stronghold after a string of comrades were assassinated.
Desperate Sinwar was last night reported to have stipulated that his survival must be included in the terms of any ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. An Egyptian official close to the talks said: “Sinwar insists on guarantees of his safety.”
But Israel is certain to reject that demand now its main terror target is in its sights – and Sinwar’s days appeared to be numbered last night.
Sinwar, 61, is believed to be hiding in a maze of tunnels beneath the city of Khan Younis as Israeli security agency Shin Bet tightens the net.
And analysts believe his death could soon give Israel the “off-ramp” they need to justify ending the bloody war, which Hamas claims has killed 40,000 in Gaza in ten months.
Sinwar – who assumed full command of Hamas after its political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed – tops Israel’s hit list. He conceived and planned the October 7 massacres.
A security source told Israeli media: “Every day, he has trouble finding places where he can hide.
“His list of associates is being reduced.”
