Since Israel began to strike back against Hezbollah six days ago, Hezbollah has launched 1,000 rockets at northern Israel. Most of the rockets have been Katyusha unguided rockets, designed in World War 2 by the USSR and never out of production since then in various countries around the world. Present versions are product-improved rockets and since WW2 the term, “Katyusha” has come to refer to a small family of rockets of similar design though different sizes.

A Soviet photo of the original Katyusha rockets in World War 2

Katyushas are not large rockets (though those under fire would disagree!); it is a battlefield weapon, not a strategic-level weapon. Its range is 20.4 kilometers, though some reports indicate that Hezbollah’s rockets have considerably longer range. The rockets are carried aboard trucks in racks in a multiple rocket launcher system. It is also possible to launch the rockets singly.

Although 20KM seems a fairly short distance, that places more than 70 percent of Israel’s population and 80 percent of the country’s industrial base within Katyusha range from hostile borders.

Hezbollah also possesses another version of a MRL system, the BM21 missile, or “Grad,” developed by the Soviets in the early 1960s. The Grad ranges out to 30KM with a warhead of 45-50 pounds.

The thousand rockets launched in the last week are merely a more intensive continuation of Katyusha attacks against nothern Israel that has been going on for years. Hezbollah is said still to possess 13,000 more rockets.

As a comparison, the Germans struck Britain with a total of 1,402 V2 ballistic rockets in WW2 over a period of several months. The comparison is not altogether apt since the V2’s warhead was 2,200 pounds. The V2’s predecessor was a proto-cruise missile, the V1, which flew conventionally on autopilot for a predetermined range and then simply fell to the ground. Its 1,832-pound warhead was slightly smaller than the V2’s but still mutiples greater than the Katyusha’s.

About 10,000 V1s were fired at England, though many either malfunctioned or were shot down. But almost 2,500 did fall on London, killing 5,500 people.

Back to 2006: Whatever else Israel does, it must eliminate the rocket threat from southern Lebanon. The UN resolved in 2004 that Hezbollah be disarmed but that, of course, went nowhere. The notion that Israel could ever count on Hezbollah to voluntarily stop launching rockets is simply incredible.

Update: Allison Kaplan Sommer, blogging from Israel, says that when Hezbollah rockets hit Haifa, “there will be no such thing as “overreaction” when it comes to the average Israeli. The rubicon has been crossed.”

Update: The IAF destroyed at least one Hezbollah rocket capable of ranging Tel Aviv.

Update: Alex at The Generalist writes that “the rockets are not the problem” and that both my “logic and conclusion” are faulty. I respond in the comments. Take a look.