Israel responds to Hezbollah with major attack in Lebanon

Jerusalem (EFE).- The Israeli army tonight simultaneously bombed seven areas in the interior and south of Lebanon in response to an attack yesterday by the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, which killed 12 children and teenagers in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the occupied Golan Heights.

According to a military statement, the attacks were directed against the areas of Sabrinha, Borj al Chamali, Bekaa, Kafr Kila, Rab’ a-Taltin, Al Khaym, and Tir Haffa.

“We are increasing our preparations for the next phase of the fighting in the north,” army chief of staff Herzi Halevi said during a visit to the soccer field where the projectile fell.

“When necessary, we will act firmly. Our duty is to return northerners safely to their homes in the Galilee and the Golan Heights. That is our full commitment,” he said.

Halevi said the rocket was the Falaq 1, an Iranian missile with a 53-kilogram explosive capacity that is an exclusive asset of Hezbollah.

“We will strike the enemy harshly,” Defense Minister Yoav Galant stressed in talks with Sheikh Mowaffak Tarif, the spiritual leader of the Druze community, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is in the United States.

Minor and adolescent victims

A pro-Iran militia shell fell on a soccer field in the Druze town of Majdal Shams where Druze boys and girls were playing, killing 12. The identities of eleven of the victims have been confirmed, all minors between the ages of 10 and 16.

“This is the deadliest attack against Israeli civilians since last October 7,” Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagar said in a statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is already on a plane to return from the United States, having had to cut short a trip he made last week in the wake of the violent incident.

The President is expected to arrive in Israel early this Sunday afternoon and plans to immediately convene the Security Cabinet.

Netanyahu promised last night that Hezbollah would “pay a price greater than any it has ever paid” for the attack on Majdal Shams.

He said, “Prime Minister Netanyahu made it clear that Israel will not allow this deadly attack to go unpunished and that Hezbollah will pay a price greater than any other it has ever paid.”

Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack

For its part, the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah denied attacking the town of Majdal Shams, although it claimed responsibility for seven attacks in other parts of northern Israel, including the Golan Heights, this Saturday.

“The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon categorically denies the allegations made by some enemy media outlets and various media platforms regarding the action targeting Majdal Shams,” the armed group said in a brief statement through its official channels.

However, the military accused Hezbollah of lying and assured that they “know exactly” the point of the rocket launch, a town in the Chebaa Farms region in southern Lebanon, controlled by the pro-Iran Shiite group.

The border between Israel and Lebanon is experiencing its highest tensions since 2006 and exchanges of gunfire have occurred since 8 October, claiming around 565 lives, most of them on the Lebanese side and Hezbollah in Syria. Some 350 fighters and commanders were confirmed as casualties; in addition to a hundred civilians.

In Israel, 46 people, 22 soldiers and 24 civilians, including 12 minors and teenagers, have been killed in yesterday’s attack in the north, the most serious in Israel since the beginning of hostilities, raising fears of open war.