Last night we finally got to bed by 01:00 am only to be waken at 3:07 by another red alert. This one was aimed toward Tel Aviv, but we made our way downstairs as a precaution. There were no sirens in our immediate area, but with interceptions and falling shrapnel, we no longer take a chance.

I really feel sorry for those people in older buildings without shelters. They have to leave their apartments, children in tow, and go downstairs, often to neighborhood shelters up to a block away. And the elderly!! It must be maddening. Many underground car parks in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and larger cities have transformed into tent cities. Complete with tents, yoga mats, water, children’s centers, cots and folding chairs. People take their dogs and musical instruments, board games and crafts. It’s becoming a really hot social scene. Still-

Trying to get back to bed after finding shelter, sitting there until the all safe signal and then trying to scour all media for any damages and casualties in real time. It was after 5 when I finally got back to bed.

Yesterday, I had my doctor’s appointment by telephone, as we are in a lockdown situation. Only emergency services open. That’s a great thing. This morning, I had some prescriptions to pick up and some essential groceries to get. It was pretty quiet, so we decided to head out around 10:15. That’s when all hell broke loose literally. The banshee wail screeched across our phones. We could hear it from our neighbors’ phones too, it’s that loud.

By 10:30 a full fledged attack was underway. All over the country. And it didn’t stop. Every time we thought it was all clear, we’d get another flash of red alert notices. This time the booms of interceptions and crashes and thuds of hits was stronger…more intense.

We didn’t leave the shelter this time until a few minutes before noon. A power station around Ashdod was hit and power was out from the BeerSheva area to the Gaza Envelope. A large senior residence/ elder nursing facility outside Tel Aviv had a direct hit. Due to scheduled construction in the area, the residents were moved temporarily last Friday. The building was completely empty. Another miracle. The greatest miracle is that most missles were intercepted. The couple that did hit caused relatively little damage – there were absolutely no casualties this time. We ‘d seen footage of the members of Knesset praying and reciting Psalms during the barrage, so that is comforting.

As far as what is actually happening and has happened, as usual there is so much misinformation going on. And a lot of fear mongering whether you are listening to CNN, the BBC, Fox News or Glen Beck.

The U.S. strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities had been planned at least in part for years, but never activated until this weekend. Because bunker busters were needed, the Stealth Bomber was the only option. As far as Israel is concerned, the USAF entrance into the war was a one time deal and masterfully executed under extreme secrecy. The bombers received absolutely no opposition from jets, or missiles or anything else because Israel had already cleared the airspace. The IAF had taken out all the satellites, radar, and air bases. There was no longer a threat. Unfortunately, Israel is getting very little credit for this in the mainstream media. American seems to be taking the credit.

Iran has been weakened considerably. Israel has taken out their military bases, airports, communications, power, transportation hubs. They have eliminated scores of senior IRGC commanders. With bombing sorties occurring round the clock from Israel, we are destroying missile storage facilities, weapons factories, and as many rocket launchers as we possibly can find. Sorties have been flying deeper and deeper into Iranian territory. Today, the Air Force obliterated the access roads and entrance shafts to Natanz, Isfahan and Fordo nuclear facilities.

Strikes in Iran have hit the IRGC headquarters this morning. Israel has confirmed hitting Basij headquarters. That’s the secret police that used to go around arresting protestors, academia, political dissidents including women deemed immodest for not covering their heads or bodies sufficiently. We shot the entrance gates off Evin Prison, where the political prisoners are taken and tortured. Gays, preachers, journalists and other “trouble makers” have been executed at Evin. It is a bad, bad place.

There is a square in the middle of Tehran, Palestine Square, that has a doomsday clock. The clock marks the countdown by seconds until the complete destruction of Israel. It is now gone. We shot it down. Direct hit.

The US Embassy in Qatar tells Americans to shelter in place due to rising threat levels. Tankers are being diverted from the Straits of Hormuz, a 2 mile across strait that is a main oil tanker and shipping lane passage to the area. Iran would be hurting themselves greatly (shooting their turbans off to spite their heads) if they blocked the straits. It makes no sense tactically, but then, what does now? Qatar has just closed its airspace for the ‘protection of its residents’ (and those heads of terror organizations hiding there, opinion mine).

The Iranian foreign minister has been in talks with Putin. They are pleading with Russia to supply more weapons and get directly involved. So far, Putin has adamantly resisted. Russia is up to its neck in the Ukraine War. Also Putin stated, “Israel today is almost a Russian speaking country. Two million people from the Soviet Union and Russia live there. We take that into account.” Thank you, Putin. I understand the Iranian head of state is en route to Moscow now. We shall see, but I highly doubt Russia will get involved. It would be suicide and an over-extension for them at this time. Putin has indicated that Moscow has no binding obligation to come to Iran’s aid.

Whether you are reading the Guardian or the New York Times, there is a lot of fear mongering going on, I have serious doubts this will lead to World War III or a further escalation.

The Iranian people are not targets. Most civilians are just trying to shelter in place. Israel is destroying all the infrastructure and institutions that have controlled the people. They are paving the way for the Iranian people to rise up and take control of their own future in the near future. But neither the US nor the Israeli governments are directly involved in regime change.

(And to the one person who took me to task last night saying that in my Instagram post I implied that G-d was on our side. “There are many in Iran with G-d on their side. This is so sad to see you post this. Our good friends are Iranian Catholics who still have family living there. We pray G-d will be with them. To treat this so flippantly and callously is shocking especially from you. War is awful. Dancing on the graves of innocents is not ok.” Yes. There are innocents on both sides. I did not mean to sound callous. I am trying to report news as concisely and factually as possible as it happens. Israel does not target civilian populations, but has called for the evacuation of areas it plans to strike beforehand. Israel is only trying to reduce the extreme terror threat to the Western world by this radical jihadist regime. I do hope this will be over soon.)

Also in the news yesterday, the IDF recovered the bodies of three murdered hostages from the tunnels in Gaza. In an overnight operation, Yonatan Samerano, 21, Staff Sgt. Shai Levenson, 19, and Ofra Kedar, 71, were brought back to Israel for identification and burial. Samerano fled from the Nova music festival with two friends. They were all murdered. His body was dragged to Gaza on te back of a pickup truck. Levenson was a tank commander stationed on the Gaza border. He was killed while battling the invading Hamas terrorists. Kedar was murdered while out on her morning walk the morning of 7October.

In Syria, there was a horrific massacre of Christians.A gunman opened fire and then self detonated his suicide vest during the Holy Mass at the St. Elias Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus. Over 60 mostly young people were killed, scores injured. 350 people were praying inside that church. Daesh (ISIS) cells have taken credit for this. Salafi terrorists and the followers of Ahmad Al Shara Al Julani, now self-proclaimed “moderate” president of Syria have not changed their nature. They remain ISIS. There seems to be no other path than to rout out terror cells and destroy them. Following the attack, video footage surfaced showing threatening messages ‘Your turn is next’ scrawled on various other churches in the Hama countryside. This must be condemned from the national levels throughout the world.

I’m exhausted and have two stories due for paid publication, so I shall try to give a more full, concise update tomorrow. The main takeaway is that I and most of the people I’ve spoken with feel that these are limited operations that will not lead to a wider,global conflagration. The IDF is way ahead of its original plans in Iran and hopes to wrap all of this up by next week. The Ayatollah is on his knees, Israel is still making targeted strikes with no resistance. Keep up the prayers and well wishes. Until tomorrow-

Update 2 hours later: we just received the news that Iran has targeted US military bases in Qatar and Bahrain with missiles. UAE has closed its airspace as a precaution. No injuries have been reported. IAF has wrapped up its wave of strikes in Western Iran, however they”will continue striking any component of Iran regime involved in threatening Israel.”