Concerns are intensifying over the ignition of the entire Middle East region amid the war in the Gaza Strip, following the attack in the Golan Heights that claimed the lives of 12 children.
Israel quickly attributed the attack to Hezbollah, bombarding areas deep inside Lebanon yesterday and threatening “harsh reprisals,” despite Hezbollah’s strong denial of responsibility for the deadly strike.
Limited but Significant Response
The Israeli security cabinet (image above from Haaretz) – which lasted at least four hours – decided on a “limited but significant” military response to the massacre at Majdal Shams, while plans for strikes are expected to be approved in the coming hours.
Additionally, it authorized Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to decide on the timing of the “reprisals” against Hezbollah. However, tensions arose as reports indicate that Prime Minister Netanyahu accused the Defense Minister of taking initiatives and decisions without his approval.
The Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir abstained from the vote.
Last night, his security council authorized both Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant to “decide how and when to respond against the terrorist organization Hezbollah,” the Prime Minister’s office announced, without providing further details.
Iran warned Israel against the “consequences” of a large-scale retaliatory attack in Lebanon. Any new “adventure” by Israel could “lead to a deterioration” of the “war in the region,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani.
The White House accused the Lebanese Islamist movement, backed by Iran, of committing this “horrific” attack. “It was his rocket, fired from an area under his control,” a statement signed by Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for the U.S. National Security Council, emphasized.
Hezbollah Denies Responsibility
According to Israeli authorities, a rocket launched from Lebanon struck a soccer field in the village of Majdal Shams on Saturday, resulting in the deaths of 12 boys and girls aged between ten and sixteen, and injuring about thirty others.
Twelve children were killed in the attack on the soccer field
However, all evidence confirms that the attack in the Golan Heights was the pretext Israel was looking for. Hezbollah has not accepted responsibility. Nevertheless, Israelis present evidence, and the U.S. clearly state that the rocket was fired by the organization based in Lebanon and fully supported by Iran.
An Iranian-made Falak rocket was used, with a warhead containing 53 kilograms of explosives, Israeli authorities claim.
“Hezbollah is the only force in the region that has this type of rocket in its arsenal,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry stated, accusing the Lebanese movement of “crossing all red lines” by firing “at civilians,” and particularly “deliberately.”
Hezbollah will pay “dearly,” threatened Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who returned yesterday from the U.S.
The Druze Community
The small Druze community is located in the Golan Heights, a strategically important area at the tripoint borders of Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. The heights were seized by the Israeli army during the 1967 war, before being annexed in 1981.
The international community has never recognized the annexation of the occupied Syrian territory.
The Israeli Defense Minister visited the soccer field in Majdal Shams yesterday, where he “insisted” that Israel would “strike hard at the enemy,” according to his office.
Thousands gathered at the funerals of the victims
Thousands of people gathered in the community for the funerals of the victims, including women wearing black mourning dresses and white headscarves in front of the coffins.
This was “the deadliest attack against Israeli civilians since October 7,” said Admiral Daniel Hagari, the spokesperson of the Israeli army, referring to the Hamas raid on southern areas of Israeli territory that sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres “condemned” the attack and called on “all parties to exercise maximum restraint.”
“An International Investigation Should Be Conducted”
Lebanon called for an “international investigation” and warned that an Israeli attack on its territory could trigger a regional flare-up. Egypt, which is mediating indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas along with Qatar and the U.S., warned against the “risks of opening a new front in Lebanon.”
The head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, called for an “independent international investigation”; Berlin called for “calm”; and London expressed concern over the impending “escalation.” French President Emmanuel Macron emphasized to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday that his country is “fully committed to doing everything to prevent further escalation in the region” during a phone conversation.
Syria condemned Israel’s “false accusations” against Hezbollah.
“It could be a misfire or a missile from the Israeli air defense launched to intercept a target in the air,” said Riad Kawaji, director of the Institute for Near East Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA).
Hezbollah on Alert
Since the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, has been engaged in daily exchanges of fire with the Israeli army along the border of the two states.
Yesterday, Sunday, the movement hastily withdrew members from positions in southern Lebanon following Israeli threats, a source close to Hezbollah stated, as reported by the Athens News Agency citing AFP.
Israeli Airstrikes Continue in the Gaza Strip
The war in the Gaza Strip erupted on October 7, when the military wing of Hamas launched a raid into southern Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,197 people, according to a count by the French Agency based on official Israeli data. Of the 251 people who were abducted that day, 111 are still being held hostage in the Gaza Strip, although 39 are believed to be dead, according to the Israeli military.
The large-scale operations of the Israeli armed forces since then have claimed the lives of at least 39,324 people in the Palestinian enclave, most of whom are civilians, according to the latest figures from Hamas’ health ministry.
The Israeli army ordered residents of the al-Bureij and al-Suhandah communities in the central part of the besieged enclave to evacuate urgently, signaling that it will conduct operations “with force” there.
The Commissioner-General of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, noted via X that “currently, only 14% of the territory of Gaza is not subject to ‘evacuation orders’ for civilians,” accusing the Israeli army of causing “desolation and panic.”