The United States said Sunday it was in “ongoing consultations” with Israel and Lebanon after the United States blamed Hezbollah for a rocket attack on a soccer field in the Golan Heights the previous day. Killed at least 12 children and young peopleThis has raised concerns about wider conflict in the region.
National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement on Sunday that the rockets were from Hezbollah and “fired from territory controlled by Hezbollah.” Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack.
The Israeli military confirmed it had launched airstrikes against Hezbollah positions “deep inside Lebanese territory.”
The airstrike was in apparent retaliation for Saturday’s rocket attack. Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said it was the worst attack on Israel since the October 7 attacks. Hagari said 20 others were wounded.
“All the evidence indicates that the rockets are indeed Hezbollah or were attributed to Hezbollah,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is visiting Japan, told reporters on Sunday.
Amar Awad/Reuters
Saturday’s attack raised fears that the conflict between Israel and Hamas could lead to a broader regional war. A U.S. official told CBS News that Saturday was a busy day of “near-total war” between Israel and Hezbollah.
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Separately with President Biden Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, and Visiting Republican CandidatesFormer President Donald Trump is visiting Israel at Mar-a-Lago, and White House officials are concerned about a “nightmare scenario” in which an errant rocket or missile is fired, causing multiple casualties or other unintended consequences that could lead to a tough Israeli response.
Biden administration officials have tried to soften the tone and tamp down the reaction during the call, but U.S. officials stressed that Israel has the “right to defend its country.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Sunday that he was “very pleased with the news of the ‘Face the Nation'”“But I don’t think anybody wants an escalation of the war, so I hope there will be some movement towards de-escalation,” he added.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, an ally of President Trump, Speaking on “Face the Nation”“We are concerned that if the conflict escalates further, Hezbollah and its allies will move towards nuclear weapons,” he said on Sunday.
“I am very concerned that not only will there be a second front, but that they will use the last three or four months before the election to rush into nuclear weapons development,” Graham said. “We have to warn that this cannot happen.”
According to reports, thousands of Druze people gathered at Majdal Shams to attend the funerals of the victims. The Israel TimesAt the funeral, mourners yelled at government officials, with one man yelling at far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to “get him out of here,” according to the Times of Israel.
“There is no doubt that Hezbollah has crossed a red line here and its response will reflect that,” Israeli Foreign Minister Katz told Israel’s Channel 12. “We are approaching a moment where we face an all-out war.”
Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif told The Associated Press that the group “categorically denies the attack” on the city of Majdal Shams, an unusual denial by Hezbollah.
Netanyahu’s office said he would shorten his trip to the US by a few hours but did not give a date for his return. He said he would convene a meeting of his security cabinet upon his arrival.
Far-right members of Netanyahu’s government have called for a tough response against Hezbollah, but after nearly 10 months of fighting in Gaza, the Israeli military would find it difficult to wage an all-out war against a militant group with far superior firepower than Hamas.
Footage broadcast by Israel’s Channel 12 showed a large explosion in one of the valleys of Majdal Shams, a Druze town on the Golan Heights that Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981. Some Druze are Israeli nationals, and although many remain sympathetic to Syria and reject Israeli annexation, their ties with Israeli society are growing stronger over the years.
Amar Awad/Reuters
Video footage shows paramedics carrying a stretcher off the football field and towards a waiting ambulance.
Resident Khair Mahmoud told Channel 12 that his children were playing football when the rocket hit the stadium, and that they heard sirens seconds before the rocket hit, but there was no time to evacuate.
Primary school principal Cihan Sefadi told Channel 12 that five students were among the dead. “The situation here is very difficult. Parents are crying, people are screaming outside. No one understands what has happened.”
The Israeli military said analysis showed the rockets were fired from north of the village of Sheba in southern Lebanon.
The attack on the soccer field just before sunset followed cross-border violence on Saturday in which Hezbollah said three of its fighters were killed but did not say where. The Israeli military added that its air force targeted a Hezbollah arms depot in the border village of Kfar Kila where its fighters were inside at the time.
Hezbollah said its fighters carried out as many as 10 attacks on Israeli military positions using rockets and explosive drones. In the latest attack, they hit the Haramoun Brigade headquarters in Ma’ale Golani with Katyusha rockets. In a separate statement, Hezbollah said it had struck the same military position with short-range Falak rockets. The group said the attacks were in retaliation for Israeli airstrikes on villages in southern Lebanon.
U.S. intelligence officials have no doubt that the attack on the Golan Heights was carried out by Hezbollah, but it is unclear whether the militant group intended to target it or whether it was a mistake, said a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly.
The White House National Security Council said in a statement that the United States “will continue to support efforts to end the horrific attacks along the Blue Line – this must be a top priority. U.S. support for Israel’s security is ironclad and unwavering against all Iranian-backed terrorist organizations, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.”
The Lebanese government statement, without mentioning Majdal Shams, called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities on all fronts” and condemned all attacks against civilians.
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging gunfire since Oct. 8, the day after Hamas fighters invaded southern Israel. Firefights along the Lebanese-Israeli border have intensified in recent weeks, with Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks reaching further and deeper into the border.
The Israeli army said Majdal Shams, which does not share the border with Lebanon, was not among the border towns ordered evacuated as tensions escalated, but did not say why.
Officials from the United States, France and other countries have visited Lebanon to try to ease tensions but have made no progress. Hezbollah refuses to stop its attacks as long as Israel continues to attack Gaza. Israel and Hezbollah fought an inconclusive war in 2006.
Saturday’s violence came as Israel and Hamas were discussing a proposed ceasefire to end the nearly 10-month war in Gaza and free some 110 hostages being held there. An Oct. 7 Hamas attack left about 1,200 people dead and 250 hostages taken hostage.
More than 39,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks, according to local health officials.
Since early October, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have killed more than 450 people, mostly Hezbollah members, but also about 90 civilians and non-combatants. 45 people have been killed on the Israeli side, including at least 21 soldiers.
Margaret Brennan and Eleanor Watson contributed reporting.
