People gather during a funeral for children killed at a soccer field by rockets fired from Lebanon, in Majdal Shams, a Druze village in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, July 28, 2024.
Ammar Awad | Reuters
Israel’s security cabinet on Sunday authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to decide “how and when” to respond to a missile attack A rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights killed 12 teenagers and children, and Israel and the United States blamed the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Hezbollah denied responsibility for Saturday’s Majdal Shams attack, the deadliest in Israel or Israeli-annexed territory since an October 7 attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. war in gaza. The conflict has spread to many fronts and threatens to spread further. regional conflict.
Israel has oath of revenge against Hezbollah in Lebanonand Israeli jets struck targets in southern Lebanon on Sunday.
But a stronger response is expected after a security cabinet meeting convened by Netanyahu in Tel Aviv.
After the meeting ended, Netanyahu’s office said the cabinet “authorized the prime minister and defense minister to decide how and when to respond.”
The White House also blamed Hezbollah for the attack on Majdal Shams on Sunday. “This attack was carried out by Lebanese Hezbollah. It was their missile and it was launched from an area they control,” the statement said.
US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, has said through her national security adviser that her “support for Israel’s security is absolute”
The United States said Washington had been in discussions with its Israeli and Lebanese counterparts since Saturday’s “horrific” attack and was seeking a diplomatic solution.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington does not want escalate further of the conflict, which saw daily gun battles between Israeli troops and Hezbollah along the border.
Britain expressed concern about further escalation while Egypt said the attack could “become a full-scale war in the region”.
In fact, thousands of people gathered for the funeral in the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, territory captured by Israel from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move not recognized by most countries.
The Druze, a religion related to Islam, Christianity and Judaism, make up more than half of the Golan Heights’ 40,000 population. Crowds of mourners, many wearing traditional white and red Druze headdresses, surrounded the coffins as they were carried through the village.
“A heavy tragedy, a dark day has come to Majdal Shams,” Dolan Abu Saleh, head of the local Majdal Shams council, said in a speech broadcast on Israeli television.
Hezbollah initially claimed to have fired rockets at Israeli military sites in the Golan Heights, but said it had “absolutely no involvement” in the attack on Majdal Shams.
Israeli officials react after a rocket was launched across the Lebanese border with Israel, killing one person, according to the Israeli ambulance service, at a soccer field in Majdal Shams, a Druze village in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, July 27, 2024.
Ammar Awad | Reuters
Israel says missile made in Iran
However, Israel said the missile was an Iranian-made missile fired from an area north of the village of Chebaa in southern Lebanon, blaming it entirely on Hezbollah is backed by Iran.
It is not yet clear whether the children and teenagers killed were Israeli citizens.
“The missiles that killed our sons and daughters were Iranian missiles, and Hezbollah is the only terrorist organization that has such missiles in its arsenal,” the Israeli foreign ministry said.
Two security sources told Reuters that Hezbollah was on high alert and had cleared several key sites in both southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley in case of an Israeli attack.
Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines said it would delay the arrival of some flights from Sunday night to Monday morning, without giving a reason.
Israeli forces have been fighting Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon for months, but both sides appear keen to avoid an escalation that could lead to all-out war, potentially drawing in other powers including the United States and Iran.
However, Saturday’s attack threatens to push the standoff into a more dangerous phase. UN officials have called for maximum restraint from both sides, warning that an escalation could “plunge the entire region into an unbelievable disaster”.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told Reuters that Lebanon had asked the United States to urge Israel to exercise restraint. Bou Habib said the United States had asked the Lebanese government to convey a message to Hezbollah to show restraint.
Fear of total war
Iran’s foreign ministry warned Israel on Sunday against what it called any new adventures in Lebanon.
Syria’s foreign ministry said it held Israel “fully responsible for this dangerous escalation in the region” and said its accusations against Hezbollah were false.
The conflict has forced tens of thousands of people in both Lebanon and Israel to flee their homes. Israeli airstrikes have killed some 350 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and more than 100 civilians, including medical workers, children and journalists.
Hezbollah is the most powerful of a network of Iran-backed groups across the Middle East and opened a second front against Israel shortly after Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7.
The Druze community lives on both sides of the border between southern Lebanon and northern Israel, as well as in the Golan Heights and Syria. While some serve in the Israeli military and identify with Israel, many feel marginalized in Israel and some also reject Israeli citizenship.
