Middle East: Israel warns Hezbollah crossed 'all red lines'

After not initially pointing the finger at anyone for the attack on the Golan Heights that killed 12 people, the White House later on Sunday said it had been "conducted by Lebanese Hezbollah."

National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement that "it was their [Hezbollah's] rocket, and launched from an area they control. It should be universally condemned."

Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned strikes from Lebanon that killed numerous people in Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, his spokesperson said on Sunday.

"I condemn yesterday’s abhorrent rocket attack that hit the Druze town of Majdal Shams, which killed at least 12 civilians, mainly children and teenagers," Tor Wennesland wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

"I urge all to exercise maximum restraint. The launching of rockets across the Blue Line must cease immediately," Guterres added.

The Israeli military said that Hezbollah fired an Iranian-made rocket carrying a 50-kilogram (110-pound) warhead that hit the town with a majority Druze Arab population.

Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack.

Lebanon's national airline Middle East Airlines (MEA) has announced a delay in some of its flights scheduled to land in Beirut on Sunday evening.

"Middle East Airlines - Air Liban announces the delay of some of its return flights to Beirut from 28 July to the morning of 29 July," the carrier said on X, formerly Twitter.

Delayed flights were returning from European and Arab cities including Copenhagen, London, Doha, Dammam, Dubai and Jeddah.

Beirut International Airport's website showed other MEA flights scheduled to arrive later on Sunday, with no notice of cancellation or delay.

The UK has condemned the strike on the Israel-occupied Golan Heights which has killed 12 children and teenagers, saying it was "deeply concerned" an escalation would ensue.

"We are deeply concerned about the risk of further escalation and destabilization," British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said on X, formerly Twitter. "We have been clear Hezbollah must cease their attacks."

The pro-Iran Hezbollah, designated as a terrorist group by many countries, has denied responsibility for the attack. But Israel has dismissed this denial and vowed a strong response.

People who were at the Israel-occupied Golan Heights playground where a rocket strike killed 12 children and teenagers on Saturday were in a state of "shock," DW correspondent Tania Krämer said on Sunday.

Israel blames the barrage of rockets fired from Lebanon on the militant group Hezbollah, which in turn denies responsibility.

The DW correspondent spoke to some young people who were in the playground on Saturday at the time of the attack.

"They're all in shock. They say they didn't expect this," Krämer said. "They were here, there was an air raid siren going off and it all happened very quickly, a couple of seconds and then the children here and teenagers were hit." 

Most of the funerals for those killed have taken place at Majdal Shams, she said, adding that some children were still in hospital, including those in serious condtion.

"And the town is clearly in mourning after what happened here yesterday."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has returned from a trip to the US and convened the security cabinet amid growing fears of a regional escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.

"You know, a strike like this with a lot of civilian casualties, that could tip the balance," said Krämer. "So it all depends now what this security cabinet will decide, how those counter strikes will look like. And there could be potential, of course, for a wider escalation."
 

France's Foreign Ministry has called on all belligerent parties to avoid any military escalation following Saturday's rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which killed 12 teenagers and children.

"France condemns in the strongest terms the attack on the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights," the ministry said in a statement.

"France demands that everything possible be done to avoid a new military escalation and we will continue work with the relevant parties on this," it added.

Israel has vowed retaliation for the attack, which it has blamed on Lebanon's Hezbollah militia, though the Iran-backed group has denied involvement.

The incident comes as Hezbollah continues its cross-border attacks on Israel that it says are in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, amid an Israeli offensive in the enclave against the militant group Hamas.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said all evidence points to the involvement of the Lebanese militia Hezbollah in Saturday's deadly rocket strike.

"Every indication is that indeed the rocket was from Hezbollah. We stand by Israel's right to defend its citizens from terrorist attacks," Blinken said during a trip to Japan.

Blinken added, however, that he does not want to see an escalation in violence between Israel and Hezbollah, which Israel has blamed for the attack on the Israel-occupied Golan Heights. The blast targeted a football pitch, killing at least 12 children and teenagers.

Israel has said it will strike hard against the Iran-backed group. Hezbollah has denied involvement.

Blinken also called for an end to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which has led to cross-border hostilities between Israel and Lebanon.

"We are determined to bring the Gaza conflict to a close. It's gone on for far too long. It's cost far too many lives. We want to see Israelis, we want to see Palestinians, we want to see Lebanese live free from the threat of conflict and violence," said Blinken.

Israel launched its current offensive against the Islamist militant group Hamas in Gaza after Hamas carried out raids in southern Israel on October 7 that killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has described Saturday's rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights as "perfidious," but called on all parties to avoid hasty responses,

"The perfidious attacks must stop immediately. It is important to act with cool heads. Far too many people have died already in this conflict," Baerbock wrote on the messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, referring to the Gaza conflict.

Israel has vowed to strike hard against the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, which it holds responsible for the attack despite the Iran-backed group denying involvement. Many fear an escalation would lead to a wider Middle East war.

The rocket attack hit a soccer pitch and killed at least 12 people, including children.

In her post, Baerbock said it was "terrible that children and young people were killed who just wanted to play football" and expressed her sympathy with the victims' families.

The Lebanese government has contacted the US and asked it to urge Israel to show restraint, according to a Reuters reports citing Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib.

Israel is currently contemplating a response to Saturday's rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Israel has blamed the attack on Lebanon's Hezbollah militia and vowed rapid retaliation for the strike, in which at least 12 children and teenagers died. The Lebanon-based Hezbollah has denied involvement.

The US has also asked the Lebanese government to pass on a message urging restraint from Hezbollah, Bou Habib told Reuters.

Israel's Foreign Ministry said Saturday's rocket strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights confirmed that Hezbollah is a "terrorist organization." Israel has blamed the deadly attack on the Iran-backed militia, which is based in Lebanon.

"Saturday's massacre constitutes the crossing of all red lines by Hezbollah. This is not an army fighting another army; rather, it is a terrorist organization deliberately shooting at civilians," the ministry said in a statement.

According to the ministry, "an Iranian rocket" caused the deaths of "our boys and girls," with Hezbollah being "the only terror organization that has those in its arsenal."

"Israel will exercise its right and duty to act in self-defense and will respond to the massacre," the statement said.

In remarks to Israeli Channel 12, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz also said there was "no doubt that Hezbollah has crossed all the red lines here, and the response will reflect that." 

"We are nearing the moment in which we face an all-out war," Katz said.

Hezbollah, while claiming several attacks on Israeli military positions on Saturday, has denied responsibility for the strike in the Golan Heights, in which at least 12 people died, including children.

Iran's Foreign Ministry has told Israel it should not embark on any "new adventure" in Lebanon, as Israeli authorities weigh responses to a deadly rocket attack in the Golan Heights that they have blamed on the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.

 "Any ignorant action of the Zionist regime can lead to the broadening of the scope of instability, insecurity and war in the region," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanan in a statement. 

He added that Israel would be responsible for "the unforeseen consequences and reactions to such stupid behavior."

Israel has vowed to retaliate for the Golan Heights strike, and said its warplanes already attacked Hezbollah targets in Lebanon overnight.

The rocket attack on a soccer pitch in the Israeli-occupied region, for which Hezbollah has denied responsibility, reportedly killed at least 12 people, including children.

Israeli warplanes have conducted attacks on the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, the Israeli military said Sunday morning.

The strikes come after a rocket that Israel said was fired by the group hit a soccer pitch in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, killing 12 people, including children.

"Overnight, the IAF struck a series of Hezbollah terror targets both deep inside Lebanese territory and in southern Lebanon, including weapons caches and terrorist infrastructure in the areas of Chabriha, Borj El Chmali, and Beqaa, Kfarkela, Rab El Thalathine, Khiam, and Tayr Harfa," the military said.

Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the Golan Heights incident, which has greatly heightened tensions between the Shiite group and Israel, further fueling fears of a full-blown conflict between the two.

The UN special coordinator for Lebanon and the head of a UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon urged "maximum restraint" on the Lebanese-Israeli border in a joint statement early on Sunday.

"We deplore the death of civilians — young children and teenagers — in Majdal Shams. Civilians must be protected at all times," the statement read.

"We urge the parties to exercise maximum restraint and to put a stop to the ongoing intensified exchanges of fire. It could ignite a wider conflagration that would engulf the entire region in a catastrophe beyond belief," they said.

The deadly attack targeting a Druze village in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights has reignited fears of a broader regional conflict.  

Israeli politician Benny Gantz, who quit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s emergency government last month, wrote on X that the rocket attack on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights showed that "Israelis of all backgrounds suffer from terror."

"As innocent Israeli children in the Druze village of Majdal Shams were murdered on a football field today at the hands of Iranian-proxy Hezbollah's rockets, we're served with a painful reminder that Israelis of all backgrounds suffer from terror, and stand together in the fight against terror," Gantz wrote in the post.

"I have said before, and will reiterate it tonight — the government will be afforded wide support from outside the government for any determined and effective response that will restore security to the citizens of the north," he added.

Gantz joined Netanyahu's emergency government shortly after the Hamas militant Islamist group's attacks in southern Israel on October 7.

He was a member of the war Cabinet, but he quit in June citing differences in opinion with Netanyahu over the prime minister’s handling of the conflict and the future of the Gaza Strip.

Gantz is a former military chief and belongs to the centrist National Unity coalition.

The European Union's foreign affairs chief called on all parties to "exercise utmost restraint and avoid further escalation" after an attack that hit a football pitch in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Josep Borrell strongly condemned "this bloodbath," calling the images captured in the aftermath, "shocking."

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Borrell also called for an independent international investigation into the incident. 

Israel blamed Hezbollah for the strike that killed 11 people, including children. 

But the Lebanese militant group, which is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several other countries, has denied any role.