40 Killed in Strike on Lebanese Village

It is just a coincidence. A matter of luck: bad for the Israelis and good for Hezbollah.

Maybe now some people at newsvine who have been treating these rockets as toy weapons will get a better idea about their capabilities.

krelian, with respect, do you have any basis for that pronouncement?

Not that I doubt it, really, I'm just wondering how you can be so certain, as you didn't provide any indication that you know any more about the situation than, for instance, I do.

Further, I believe that, if we assume that you are correct in the first paragraph (Hezbollah was lucky rather than competent), your second assertion (Hezbollah's missiles are a formidable weapon which deserves to be taken as a serious threat) loses its basis. Can you clarify that?

1) I am Israeli (currently not living in Israel but my family is being constantly bombarded by these rockets), so throughout the years I've been "educated" on the capabilities of these rockets.

2)The Rockets can be aimed to hit a certain area. I would assume the radius to be 20-50 kilometers but I don't have any factual numbers

3) Even if Hezbollah had intelligence indicating that a large group of people were gathering in a certain place (which he doesn't) it is not possible for him to aim with such accuracy. He can target a specific city or village but nothing more than that. As such the strategy being used by Hezbollah is to fire as many rockets as it can hoping to hit something.

4) From what I understood from reading Israeli media, the group (probably Israeli reserves in supporting roles) were warned to take shelter because of an imminent attack but ignored the warning.

5) Rockets in general are not an accurate weapon but do "compensate" but being lethal when they do hit. Katyusha Rockets do not carry a lot of explosived and do not have much range but when they hit "correctly" the do a lot of damage.

Thanks, krelian. I don't think I would argue with any of your 5 well-thought-out and logical points. I wouldn't exactly say that they go very far to prove your assertion that the fact that they hit this target should motivate anyone to change their opinion. Truthfully, though, I don't believe that I've seen anybody claim that these rockets are "toy weapons." They are what they are - lethal and inaccurate, which I don't think has been disputed. My question, the one that prompted your characterization, was simply about whether or not the weapons could be more accurate than has been previously reported. Thanks for providing some useful information!