The Israel Defense Forces said they struck seven targets “deep inside Lebanese territory” on Sunday in retaliation for an attack on a soccer field in an Israeli-controlled town in the Golan Heights that left at least 12 people, mostly children and teenagers, dead.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Tel Aviv from the United States amid growing anger in Israel over the deadly attack, which the Israeli military blames on Lebanon's Iran-backed group Hezbollah.
“Israel is approaching the moment of all-out war with Hezbollah,” the Israeli army said. “The IDF is prepared and ready to defend Israel's security.”
The Israeli offensive into Lebanon has extended into the Bekaa Valley, about 60 miles from Israel's southern border, where fighting has so far been largely limited. The retaliatory strikes are set to further escalate tensions between the two heavily armed factions already at odds.
Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack, an unusual denial from the militant group.
Israeli spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a statement that the rockets were Iranian-made Falak 1s “exclusively owned by Hezbollah.” Hagari called Saturday's attack the worst in Israel since October 7. “We are in an escalating war,” Hagari said Saturday. “Children are being targeted and these children are Israeli Druze civilians.”
The attack took place just before sunset, with footage from Israel's Channel 12 showing a large explosion and smoke rising from one of the valleys of Majdal Shams, a town inhabited by the Druze, an Arabic-speaking ethnic and religious minority.
Sheikh Muafak Tarif, spiritual leader of Israel's Druze sect, condemned the “brutal and murderous attack.”
“It is impossible to imagine or describe the horror of these children and the destruction they suffered. [body] “There are parts strewn across the lawn,” he said in a statement.
The Druze, who practice their own religion, are unique among Israel's Arab residents in that they support Israel, including by serving in the Israeli army. About 25,000 Druze live on the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in 1967.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has so far been calmer than the war in Gaza, but Hezbollah's pledge to continue supporting the Palestinians means continued attacks on Israel. Israeli military attacks in Lebanon have left hundreds dead and displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the border.
The latest attacks have rekindled fears that tensions could escalate further.
“This is exactly the kind of thing that could send us into a vicious cycle,” said Gershon Baskin, Middle East director for the Israel-based International Community Organization.
“Hezbollah will not take this lying down. Their ability to inflict damage on Israel is 100 times greater than Hamas'. The firepower that both sides have could cause enormous damage and kill many people.”
“Escalation is never planned and it gets out of control,” Baskin said.
The White House's National Security Council said in a statement that Israel's support for its security is “ironclad and unwavering against all Iranian-backed terrorist organizations, including Lebanon's Hezbollah.”
The United States has previously tried to prevent a full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah from breaking out. During a visit to Lebanon in June, White House envoy Amos Hochstein said the US was urgently seeking to de-escalate the conflict.
Israeli officials remain steadfast in their desire to go after Lebanon's Hezbollah despite pressure from the Biden administration, according to a U.S. official familiar with the talks.
Netanyahu cut his trip to the United States short by a few hours after the attack on the Golan Heights, and immediately vowed retaliation against Hezbollah, saying the group “will pay a bigger price than it has ever paid before.”
The latest violence comes as Israel and Hamas are discussing a potential ceasefire that would end the nearly 10-month conflict. Prime Minister Netanyahu said Friday he would send a delegation to Rome for talks with Hamas on ending the war. The United States is sending CIA Director Bill Burns to meet with representatives from Qatar, Egypt and Israel.
Hezbollah has said it will continue its attacks as long as Israel's attacks on Gaza continue, and Fawaz Gerges, a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics, believes an end to the war in Gaza would be the quickest way to end the escalating conflict between Israel and Lebanon.
“Hezbollah has the ability to resist Israel for years, not months,” he said. “Hezbollah can bleed Israel in ways it has never done before.”
“If the gunfire stops in Gaza, the clashes between Hezbollah, the Houthis and Israel will stop.”
