WHAT ISRAEL IS UP AGAINST...

The Qassam rocket is a simple, steel artillery rocket developed and deployed by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas. Three models have been produced and used, with the first introduced in 2001. More generally, all types of Palestinian rockets fired into southern Israel, for example the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Al Quds rockets, are called Qassams by the Israeli media, and often by foreign media. The Qassam gained notoriety as the best-known type of rocket deployed by Palestinian militants mainly against Israeli civilians, but also some military targets during the Second Intifada of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The aim of the Qassam rocket design appears to be ease and speed of manufacture, using common tools and components. To this end, the rockets are propelled by a solid mixture of sugar and potassium nitrate, a widely available fertilizer. The warhead is filled with TNT and urea nitrate, another common fertilizer. They usually have a range of 20 kms. They are also called M75.

Katyusha multiple rocket launchers are a type of rocket artillery first built and fielded by the USSR during WW2. Multiple rocket launchers such as these deliver a devastating amount of explosives to a target area more quickly than conventional artillery, but with lower accuracy and requiring a longer time to reload. They are fragile compared to artillery guns, but are inexpensive and easy to produce. Katyushas are usually mounted on trucks. This mobility gave the Katyusha another advantage: being able to deliver a large blow all at once, and then move before being located and attacked with counter-battery fire. During the 2006 Lebanon War, Hezbollah fired between 3,970 and 4,228 rockets, from light truck-mounts and single-rail man-portable launchers. About 95% of these were Syrian-manufactured and had a range of perhaps up to 30 km. Hamas has launched 122-mm Grad-type Katyusha rockets from the Gaza Strip against several cities in Israel, although they are not reported to have truck-mounted launchers. Although Katyusha originally referred to the mobile launcher, today the rockets are often referred to as Katyushas. They are also called GRAD. There are also the ones called M302 or Super Grad with an effective range of 90 miles.