2024-07-28 10:49:09
In the Druze city of Majdal Shams, where 12 children and teenagers were killed in a rocket attack on Saturday, the first funerals began in the morning and thousands of mourners arrived at the site. Israel attributes the attack on the Golan Heights to the Lebanese movement Hezbollah. The Iran-backed militant group has denied any blame.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant visited Majdal Shams this morning. He told the residents that the whole of Israel stands behind them in this difficult moment and told Hezbollah that “they will pay for the attack”. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who ended his visit to the US early because of the attack, also told Hezbollah that “he will pay a price as high as he has not paid for this attack.”
“There is no doubt that Hezbollah has crossed all the red lines, which will be reflected in the response,” Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Kac told Channel 12. “We are approaching the moment when we will face all-out war,” he added, according to the AP. On the X network, Kac also said that Hezbollah, which he described as an “extended arm of Iran,” has targeted civilians and that the group does not distinguish between Israelis who are Jewish and those who are of other faiths. According to Kaca, Hezbollah’s goal is to “kill Israeli citizens”.
According to Lebanese diplomacy, the Lebanese government asked the US to urge Israel to exercise restraint. The United States, on the other hand, asked the government in Beirut to call on Hezbollah to exercise restraint. According to two security sources of the Reuters agency, he preemptively cleared some key objects in southern and eastern Lebanon in preparation for possible Israeli strikes.
Israeli fighter jets hit several targets in southern Lebanon overnight Sunday, but a tougher response is expected after Prime Minister Netanyahu returns and Israel’s security cabinet meets at 4 p.m. (3 p.m. CEST), according to Reuters.
Some Druze have Israeli citizenship. Many of them still sympathize with Syria and reject Israel’s annexation of the Golan, but their ties to Israeli society have deepened over the years, AP writes.
The Golan Heights, a strategically important area in the southwest of Syria, was occupied by the Jewish state during the 1967 war and annexed in 1981 in violation of a UN Security Council resolution. In 2019, former US President Donald Trump recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan, thus deviating from the position , which Washington had held until then.
Video: This is how the US and allies intercepted an SM-6 ballistic missile target in Hawaii in April
This is how the US and allies intercepted an SM-6 ballistic missile target in Hawaii in April Video: Reuters