10 KILLED, INCLUDING CHILDREN, IN ROCKET FIRE ON OCCUPIED GOLAN; HEZBOLLAH DENIES RESPONSIBILITY

Sat 27 July 2024:

A rocket struck a soccer field in Majdal Shams, a Druze town in the Golan Heights, killing at least 10 children, and injuring 24, the IDF reported on Saturday. Israel claims Hezbollah is behind the attack

“Ten people in serious condition are being evacuated via Israel Air Force helicopters and MDA first responders. Initial reports from the scene were very difficult; they were scenes out of a battlefield,” Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service Director Eli Bin. The injured, aged 10-20, are receiving treatment at local clinics. Six of them were in critical condition.

“We arrived at the area and saw damage and belongings set on fire,” Idan Avshalom, a senior MDA paramedic, described the scene. “The injured were lying on the grass, and the scenes were difficult to watch. We began treating the injured immediately. Some of them were evacuated to local clinics. The injured are still receiving medical attention.”

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Hezbollah denies responsibility for strike in Israel-occupied Golan

A senior official from Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, Mohammad Afif, has told Reuters that the group was not responsible for an attack on Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

An Israeli official reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is visiting the United States, was being briefed on the incident and was holding a situation assessment. Netanyahu’s office later confirmed he will hold a broad situation assessment with all security officials later on Saturday.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that the Hezbollah attack crossed all red lines and would be met with an appropriate response. “We are approaching the moment of full-scale war with Hezbollah and Lebanon,” Katz said.

“We will pay a price on both the front and the home front, but by the end of the war, Nasrallah and Hezbollah will be crushed, and Lebanon will suffer severely. We will restore peace and security to the northern communities. I have instructed the Foreign Ministry to prepare for a comprehensive campaign worldwide to gain legitimacy for action in Lebanon.”

The spiritual leader of the Druze community, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, condemned the attack. “We are in great shock from the horrific massacre in the Druze village, an atrocious and murderous terrorist attack that struck innocent children playing soccer. The sight of the children’s shattered bodies strewn across the grass is indescribable,” he said.

Attack could be tipping point in war between Hezbollah and Israel

Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr Reporting from the Israeli-Lebanon border says:

Hezbollah is denying any responsibility for the rocket attack that targeted a football pitch where children were playing in Majdal Shams.

It did, however, claim responsibility for a number of attacks in the Syrian Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, but it said they were targeting military barracks.

The very fact that Hezbollah denied a very serious incident – in fact, this is the most serious since confrontations between the Israeli military and Hezbollah began nearly 10 months ago – signals that the group is not interested in changing the unwritten rules of engagement in this war of attrition.

The big question now is how Israel will respond. Civilians have been killed before but never so many in a single incident, so it remains to be seen if this will lead to an escalation. Some say this incident could be a tipping point in the ongoing conflict between these longtime enemies.

The strike on on Majdal Shams is unlikely to escalate tensions between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah to an all-out war, political analyst Ori Goldberg has said, citing several reasons.

First, “both sides don’t want an all-out war, this has been made abundantly clear,” Goldberg told Al Jazeera.

The second reason is that the victims appear to be Druze. “I’m sad to say, but Israel responds much more quickly when the casualties are Jews,” the analyst said.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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