At least 12 children and teens were killed in a rocket attack Israel is blaming on Iran-backed Hezbollah
At least 12 people, including children and teenagers, were killed by a Hezbollah rocket strike on Israel on Saturday, raising fears of an escalation of Israel’s Gaza conflict to Lebanon.
Israeli officials said they identified “approximately 30 projectiles” that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory. Israel has blamed the attack on Hezbollah, which has the backing of Iran; although the group denies responsibility.
Among the sites hit by the rockets was a soccer field where children and teenagers had been playing. IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari described the barrage as “the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians since October 7.”
“This is a very serious incident and we will act accordingly.”
Hagari said the rocket that hit the soccer field was a “Falaq 1 Iranian rocket carrying a 50kg warhead.” “This is a model that is owned exclusively by Hezbollah, and tonight it caused the deaths of 12 young boys and girls.”
In addition to the minimum of 12 deaths, 29 people were injured in the attack in the village of Majdal Shams, in the Golan Heights. A large proportion of inhabitants in the area are Druze Arabs who lived there when Israeli took the Golan Heights in 1967, during the Six-Day War. There are also a large number of Israeli settlers there.
At present, the victims all appear to be Druze.
Overnight, in response to the attack, Israeli warplanes hit Hezbollah targets “deep inside Lebanese territory and in southern Lebanon,” according to a statement from the Israeli military this morning. Weapons caches and “terrorist infrastructure” were the targets.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Hezbollah will “pay a heavy price.”
Officially, Israel and Lebanon have been at war for decades, but recent tensions as a result of Hamas’s 7 October attacks and the Israel response to them have not escalated into open warfare yet. In recent weeks, Israel and Hezbollah have intensified tit-for-tat strikes against each other.
The White House has condemned the attack on Majdal Shams and reaffirmed its “iron-clad” support for Israel.
“Israel continues to face severe threats to its security, as the world saw today, and the United States will continue to support efforts to end these terrible attacks along the Blue Line [the demarcation line between Israel and Lebanon], which must be a top priority,” a National Security Council Spokesperson said in a written statement to CNN.
The EU’s head of foreign policy Josep Borrell called for an independent investigation into the attacks and begged restraint.
“Shocking images from the soccer field in the Druze town of Majdal Shams. I strongly condemn this bloodbath. We urge all parties to exercise utmost restraint and avoid further escalation,” he said on Twitter.
