Israel Vows to Hit Hezbollah hard after 12 Killed by Rocket
Thousands of mourners attended funeral ceremonies on Sunday for the 12 children and teenagers killed by a rocket strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights as Israel vowed swift retaliation against the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
Hezbollah denied any responsibility for the attack on Majdal Shams, the deadliest in Israel or Israeli-annexed territory since Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault sparked the war in Gaza, which has since spread to several fronts and now risks spilling into a wider regional conflict.
Israeli warplanes conducted airstrikes in southern Lebanon overnight, but a more forceful retaliation was anticipated after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s return from the U.S. and a security cabinet meeting set for 4 p.m. (1300 GMT).
Meanwhile, in Majdal Shams, a Druze village in the Golan Heights, families gathered for funerals following the tragic events. Mourners, dressed in traditional white and red Druze headwear, mourned as the caskets were carried through the village.
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Dolan Abu Saleh, the head of the local council, expressed the community’s grief, calling it a dark day for Majdal Shams. Hezbollah initially claimed responsibility for firing rockets at Israeli military sites in the Golan Heights but denied any involvement in the attack on Majdal Shams.
Israel, however, blamed Hezbollah for the incident, stating that the rocket was Iranian-made and that Hezbollah was responsible for the deaths of the children playing football. Tensions have been escalating between Israeli forces and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, raising concerns about a potential full-scale conflict involving other countries like the U.S. and Iran.
However Saturday’s strike threatened to tip the standoff into a more dangerous phase and United Nations officials urged maximum restraint from both sides, warning that further escalation “could ignite a wider conflagration that would engulf the entire region in a catastrophe beyond belief.”
An Israeli military spokesperson had earlier told reporters that forensics showed the rocket was an Iranian-made Falaq-1. Hezbollah had announced firing a Falaq-1 missile on Saturday, saying it had aimed at an Israeli military headquarters.
Avoiding all-out war
The Lebanese government has requested the U.S. to urge Israel to show restraint, according to Lebanon’s foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib. Bou Habib also mentioned that the U.S. had asked Lebanon’s government to pass on a message to Hezbollah to show restraint as well.
Iran warned Israel against any new adventure in Lebanon, while Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stated that they would hit the enemy hard.
The United States condemned the strike as a horrific attack but did not directly accuse Hezbollah. The White House said U.S. support for Israel’s security was ironclad and that it would “continue to support efforts to end these terrible attacks along the Blue Line, which must be a top priority.”
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A senior diplomat focused on Lebanon said all efforts were now needed to avoid an all-out war.
The conflict has forced tens of thousands of people in both Lebanon and Israel to leave their homes. Israeli strikes have killed some 350 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and more than 100 civilians, including medics, children and journalists.
Hezbollah is the most powerful of a network of Iran-backed groups across the Middle East and started opening a second front against Israel shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault.
Iraqi groups and the Houthis of Yemen have both fired at Israel, which earlier this month carried out a major strike against the Red Sea port of Hodeidah in retaliation for a strike on Tel Aviv that killed one person. Hamas has also carried out rocket attacks on Israel from Lebanon, as has the Lebanese Sunni group, the Jama’a Islamiya.
More than 40,000 people live on the Israeli-occupied Golan, more than half of them Druze residents. The Druze are an Arab minority who practice an offshoot of Islam but many serve in the Israeli military and feel a strong attachment to Israel.