People gather during the funeral of children killed on a soccer field by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Majdal Shams, a Druze village in the Israeli-held Golan Heights, July 28, 2024.
Ammar Awad | Reuters
Thousands of mourners attended funeral services on Sunday for the 12 children and teenagers killed by missile strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights as Israel vowed swift retaliation against the Hezbollah militia Lebanon.
Hezbollah denied responsibility for the Majdal Shams attack, the deadliest in Israel or the Israeli-annexed territories since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas sparked the attack. war in Gaza. This conflict has spread on many fronts and now risks spilling over into a wider one regional conflict.
Israeli warplanes struck targets in southern Lebanon overnight, but a stronger response was expected after a security cabinet meeting at 6 p.m. (15:00 GMT). Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has returned from a visit to the United States.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said there was every indication the rocket, which hit a sports field where children were playing soccer, was fired by Hezbollah and said Washington supported Israel’s right to defend itself.
But he said the US didn’t want a further escalation of the conflict, where there are daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah along the border.
Britain expressed concern about further escalation, while Egypt said the attack could escalate “into an all-out regional war”.
On the ground, families gathered for funerals in the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, territory seized from Syria by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move not recognized by most countries.
Members of the Druze faith, which is related to Islam, Christianity and Judaism, make up more than half of the Golan Heights’ population of 40,000. Large crowds of mourners, many wearing traditional tall white and red Druze hats, surrounded the caskets as they were carried through the village.
“A heavy tragedy, a dark day has come for Majdal Shams,” said Dolan Abu Saleh, head of the Majdal Shams local council, in comments broadcast on Israeli television.
Hezbollah initially announced it had fired rockets at Israeli military sites in the Golan Heights, but said it had “absolutely nothing to do” with the Majdal Shams attack.
Israeli officials respond after rockets were fired at Lebanon’s border with Israel, who, according to Israel’s ambulance services, were killed on a soccer field in Majdal Shams, a Druze village in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, July 27, 2024 .
Ammar Awad | Reuters
Israel blames Hezbollah
However, Israel said the missile was an Iranian-made missile fired from an area north of the village of Chebaa in southern Lebanon, placing the blame squarely on Iran-backed group and saying that Hezbollah was “undoubtedly responsible.”
It was not immediately clear whether the children and teenagers killed in the attack were Israeli citizens, but Israeli officials vowed retaliation.
“The missile that killed our boys and girls was an Iranian missile and Hezbollah is the only terrorist organization that has these in its arsenal,” Israel’s foreign ministry said.
Two security sources told Reuters that Hezbollah was on high alert and had cleared a number of key locations in both southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley in case of an Israeli attack.
Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines announced it was delaying the arrival of some flights from Sunday night to Monday morning, without saying why.
In the southern port of Tyre, a little more than 20 km (12 miles) from the border, beachgoers still flocked to the shore. “There is a fear that Israel will react, but people are living their lives normally,” said Ali Husseini, manager of a seaside business in Tyr.
Israeli forces have been exchanging fire with Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon for months, but both sides appear to be avoiding an escalation that could lead to all-out war, potentially drawing in other powers, including the United States and Iran.
However, Saturday’s strike threatened to take the standoff to a more dangerous phase. UN officials have urged maximum restraint on both sides, warning that escalation could “plunge the entire region into a catastrophe beyond belief”.
Lebanon has asked the US to demand restraint from Israel, Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib told Reuters. Bou Habib said the US asked the Lebanese government to send a message to Hezbollah to also show restraint.
The fear of total war
Iran’s foreign ministry warned Israel on Sunday against what it called any new adventure 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.
Two diplomats focused on Lebanon said all efforts are now needed to avoid an all-out war.
The conflict has forced tens of thousands of people in both Lebanon and Israel to flee their homes. Israeli strikes have killed around 350 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and more than 100 civilians, including doctors, children and journalists.
The Israeli military said after Saturday’s attack that the death toll among civilians killed in Hezbollah attacks rose to 23 since October, along with at least 17 soldiers.
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 the October 7 Hamas attack.
The Iraqi groups and Yemen’s Houthis have both fired at Israel, which earlier this month attacked the Red Sea port Hodeida in retaliation for a strike in Tel Aviv that killed one person. Hamas has also launched rocket attacks into Israel from Lebanon, as has the Lebanese Sunni group Jama’a Islamiyya.
Druze communities live on both sides of the line between southern Lebanon and northern Israel as well as in the Golan Heights and Syria. While some serve in the Israeli army and identify with Israel, many feel marginalized in Israel and some also reject Israeli citizenship.
