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Two rockets fired on Eilat | The Times of Israel.

( Home, sweet home…. I’ll be there tomorrow. – JW )

No injuries reported in terror attack; missiles also land in nearby Jordanian city of Aqaba

A panoramic view of the southern Israeli city of Eilat. (photo credit: Moshe Shai/Flash90)

Two rockets were fired on the southern city of Eilat Wednesday morning. Initial reports said one landed in a residential neighborhood and the other in an open area in the outskirts of the city. No injuries were reported.

Police began scanning the area for the remains of additional weapons and to identify the type of rocket that was fired.

The rockets were believed to have been fired by Islamist terrorists from the nearby Sinai Peninsula.

Arabic media said two explosions were also heard in the Jordanian city of Aqaba, located several kilometers away.

An Iron Dome missile defense battery has been stationed near Eilat for the last two weeks in light of intelligence assessments warning of just such an attack. But in the Wednesday attack, the system was not utilized.

The city’s airport was temporarily shut down because of the attack.

Eillat Mayor Meir Yitzhak Halevy said all the city’s children were safe in the schools. “We hope this difficult episode is over,” he said.

In December 2012, the army inaugurated a new brigade tasked with protecting the Red Sea resort town and its environs, saying the move represented a growing need in a changing environment.

The creation of the Eilat Regional Brigade, under the aegis of the 80th “Edom” Division, comes as Israel’s border region with Egypt becomes increasingly volatile.

Police stand next to a rocket that landed in Eilat in early April 2012 (photo credit: AP/Yehuda Ben Itah)

Last April, two rockets fell in open areas of the city. In 2010, five rockets were fired at Eilat, with several overshooting Israeli territory and one killing a Jordanian in Aqaba.

Terror attacks originating in the Sinai have become increasingly common as Muslim extremists have taken advantage of the power vacuum left after the ouster of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

Home to some 50,000 people, Eilat hosts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year and is among the country’s top tourist destinations.

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