Israel vows retaliation after soccer field strike that killed 12 children | CNN (2024)

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French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Iran to “avoid regional military escalation” following last weekend’s deadly attack on a soccer field in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights which Israel maintains was carried out by the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Although Hezbollah has “firmly” denied masterminding the attack, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has promised to ensure that Hezbollah “pays the price,” spiking fears that a wider regional war could break out.

Macron called his Iranian counterpart, newly elected President Masoud Pezeshkian, on Monday to express his “deep concern at the rising tensions between Israel and Lebanon” among other issues, according to a readout from the Élysée Palace.

France has committed to staying in contact with all parties to “avoid a war that would have devastating consequences for the region,” the Élysée stressed.

The Lebanese government has warned Israel about the ramifications of invading Lebanon with the country’s caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib telling CNN’s Ben Wedeman Sunday that “war against Lebanon is a regional war” that would see other actors such as the Houthis and Iraqi militias get involved in fighting.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Monday hit back at Hamas accusations that changing Israeli conditions were hampering a ceasefire and hostage deal.

The PMO said that it was instead the Hamas leadership that was preventing an agreement.

But the PMO said Israel had not changed or added conditions to the proposal.

CNN has previously reported that Netanyahu had made eleventh-hour demands, including barring armed men from northern Gaza and Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor, a 14km strip of land that serves as a buffer zone on the border between Egypt and Gaza.

The PMO’s latest statements directly addressed those demands but described them as part of the “original outline.”

“Israel stands on its principles according to the original outline: Maximizing the number of living hostages, Israeli control over the Philadelphi Corridor and preventing the passage of terrorists, weapons and ammunition to the northern Gaza Strip,” it said.

Displaced Palestinians leave the al-Bureij refugee camp and move towards the west, after the Israeli army issued a new evacuation order, in central Gaza on Sunday, July 28.

More than 200,000 people – nine percent of Gaza’s population – have been displaced over the past week in the wake of Israeli evacuation orders, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said Monday.

“Humanitarian partners tracking population movements in Gaza estimate that new directives issued by Israeli authorities on Saturday and Sunday affected parts of Rafah, Khan Younis and Deir al Balah where a combined 56,000 people had been sheltering,” it added.

Only around 14 percent of areas in Gaza “are not under evacuation orders,” the Commissioner-General for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said in a post on X on Sunday.

The latest round of displacement “comes at a time when water, sanitation and hygiene conditions are being further eroded in Gaza, with infectious diseases on the rise,” UNOCHA said.

“Earlier this month, the polio virus was detected in wastewater samples in Gaza. Though no cases have been recorded, it is crucial that conditions on the ground enable aid organizations to respond quickly and at scale, including by ensuring that children can receive vaccines. The World Health Organization announced last week that it is sending 1 million polio vaccines to Gaza,” UNOCHA added.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, center, visits the site where a Hezbollah strike fell in Majdal Shams village on Sunday.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told his American counterpart Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin that Israel would hold Hezbollah responsible for Saturday’s deadly strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Gallant spoke to Austin on Monday, briefing him on the attack. He shared with Austin the evidence that Israel said indicates Hezbollah’s responsibility for the strike, according to a statement from Israel’s Government Press Office (GPO).

The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group on Saturday “firmly denied” firing projectiles into the village of Majdal Shams, where 12 children were killed and many others injured.

“Minister Gallant expressed his appreciation to Secretary Austin and the US administration for their clear stance vis-a-vis Hezbollah’s attack, and for their ongoing commitment to Israel’s security,” the GPO said.

Weapons experts told CNN the rocket that exploded on the soccer pitch in the village was likely fired by militants.

Analyzing footage of the explosion and its aftermath, experts told CNN the blast and damage seen on the site were consistent with the types of munitions fired at northern Israel and the Golan Heights from Lebanon and Syria.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday said “every indication” suggests the strike which killed 12 children in the occupied Golan Heights was a rocket fired by Hezbollah.

The US is not currently planning to evacuate US citizens from Lebanon, even as a growing number of airlines cancel Beirut flights, according to a State Department spokesperson.

“We don’t have any plans for, or an announcement as it relates to, an evacuation or efforts for private US citizens from Lebanon,” State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told a press briefing.

Patel also said there has been no change to the staffingor securitylevels at the US embassy there.

“Our message to American citizens in Lebanon continues to be that they should enroll in the Smart Traveler program so that they can receive important messages about the safety conditions on the ground and other considerations and factors that they may have,” said Patel.

Patel also reiterated that the State Department has issued a Level 3 travel advisory, meaning that US citizens should “reconsider travel,” for all of Lebanon, and a “do not travel” Level 4 advisory for southern Lebanon specifically.

The US Embassy in Beirut on Monday recommended a “crisis plan of action” for US citizens in Lebanon in a new post on social media according to Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs Rena Bitter. This included an advisory to be prepared to “shelter in place for long periods of time,” as the country braces for an Israeli response to therocket attackon the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights which killed at least 12 children.

At around midnight on Sunday, the CNN team in Beirut rushed to the hotel balcony after hearing what sounded like explosions. What we found instead were fireworks lighting up the night sky from a nearby rave.

Tens of thousands of Lebanon’s relatively affluent diaspora have flocked to Beirut this summer, despite daily confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel at Lebanon’s southern border, just a two-hour drive from the capital. The threat of a wider war has loomed over the summer season, normally a boon for Lebanon’s flailing economy. This year seems to be no exception, with hundreds of thousands of airport arrivals in June alone, according to Lebanese officials, ignoring the warnings of a growing chorus of countries calling on their nationals to avoid travel to the tiny eastern Mediterranean country.

The July 27 strike in the town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 children and teenagers at a soccer field sent tensions soaring. Israel blamed the attack on Hezbollah, who denied the allegations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to deliver a “severe” retaliation.

A full-throated diplomatic effort has sought to prevent an escalation, fearing that a wider war that could rope in Hezbollah’s allies beyond Lebanon’s borders, triggering unforeseen consequences. Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told CNN’s Ben Wedeman that Beirut had received “assurances” from unnamed international actors that Israel’s anticipated strike would be “limited,” falling short of triggering a wider war.

BouHabibsaid Lebanon was not given specifics about what a “limited response” would entail.

Hezbollah itself is in a heightened state of alert and has vacated some military positions.“The state of mobilization and preparedness, and the vacating some of the military positions here and there is a normal part of the war, especially since the escalation in Israeli threats since yesterday,” Mohammad Afif, head of Hezbollah’s media unit, told CNN.

Meanwhile, Lebanon’s summer season continues apace, and it feels a world away from the death and devastation that stalks the southern part of the country, where around 100,000 people have been displaced.

Today, especially, those words resonate.

Far-right lawmakers and protesters breached the perimeter of a controversialIsraeli detention facilityfor Palestinians on Monday, after the Israeli military confirmed it was investigating soldiers over the alleged abuse of a prisoner.

Footage posted to social media showed chaotic scenes at the Sde Teiman base in Israel’s Negev desert, where far-right Knesset member Zvi Sukkot was filmed slipping through a fence and entering the facility as crowds gathered outside, in protest against the probe. Another video showed people crowding the perimeter of the base as guards held them back.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said earlier in a statement that its Military Police Criminal Investigation Division (MPCID) was formally looking into the “suspected substantial abuse of a detainee” at the shadowy base, where prisoners from Gaza have allegedly been held under extreme conditions.

Read the full story here.

Damage from a rocket is seen at a football field in Majdal Shams, Golan Heights, on Sunday.

The Biden administration said Monday that Israel “has a right to respond” to the attack in the Golan Heights that killed a dozen children on Saturday – and it believed fears the attack could lead to a broader war were “exaggerated.”

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said during a call with reporters Monday that the US “absolutely condemned” the attack.

“Our hearts go out to all the families of those who lost loved ones, and certainly we’re praying for a speedy recovery for those who have been hurt.”

Kirby said the attack was conducted by the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, “despite their denials.”

“It’s their rocket,” Kirby said. “It’s launched from an area that they control.”

Kirby said the administration believed there was still time and space for a diplomatic solutionand that it was in continuous discussions with its Israeli and Lebanese counterparts, continuing “to support efforts to reach a diplomatic solution.”

That solution, Kirby said, will “end these terrible attacks once and for all” and “allow Israeli and Lebanese citizens on both sides of the border to safely return to their homes.”

“Our support for Israel’s security remains ironclad, and it’s unwavering against all Iran-backed threats, including those from Hezbollah,” Kirby said. “No nation can be expected to tolerate the kind of severe threats that the Israelis face.”

Asked about fears of a broader conflict in the region, Kirby responded that at “multiple points over the last 10 months, those predictions were exaggerated.”

“Quite frankly,” he said, “we think they’re exaggerated now.”

Iranian President-elect MasoudPezeshkian warned Monday that any possible Israeli attack on Lebanon “could backfire and have severe consequences for the Zionists themselves,” according to semi-official news agency Mehr.

Pezeshkian’s comment came during a phone call withFrench President Emmanuel Macron to congratulate him on his victory in Iran’s elections.

Pezeshkian will be sworn in before the Iranian parliament Tuesday, replacing late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May.

Macron and Pezeshkian also discussed “various issues and topics, including negotiations to lift anti-Iran sanctions, the war in Ukraine, and the latest situation and developments in Gaza and Lebanon,” Mehr reported.

Israel has vowedthat Hezbollah will “pay the price” after blaming the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group for a rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heightsthat killed 12 children on Saturday.

While Hezbollah says it “firmly denies” it was behind the strike, it has raised fears once again that all-out warcould envelop the region.

Hamas accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday of setting “new conditions and demands” that prevented a deal being reached at the Gaza hostage and ceasefire talks in Rome this weekend.

Officials from the US, Israel, Egypt and Qatar met in the Italian capital Sunday to continue negotiations over a deal.

The parties discussed the “proposal for an agreement” and what it described as a “clarification document from Israel,” according to Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office.

In a Hamas statement, the militant group said: “It is clear from what the mediators conveyed that Netanyahu has returned to the strategy of procrastination, evasion, and avoiding reaching an agreement by setting new conditions and demands, which contradict what the mediators conveyed as an ‘Israeli’ paper, which was part of Biden’s project and later a decision by the UN Security Council.”

CNN has previously reported that Netanyahu had made11th-hour demands, including barring armed men from northern Gaza and Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor, a 14-kilometer (8.7-mile) strip of land that servesasa buffer zone on the border between Egypt and Gaza.

The convoy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen in the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli annexed Golan Heights, on Monday.

Israel’s response to the deadly rocket attack on Majdal Shams over the weekend “will be severe,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a visit to the town on Monday, according to a statement from his office.

“These children are our children, they are the children of all of us,” Netanyahu said. “The State of Israel will not and cannot put this to rest. Our response will come, and it will be severe.”

Netanyahu was accompanied by the head of Shin Bet, Ronen Bar. The two men met representatives of the bereaved families, the statement said.

Israel blamed the Lebanese group Hezbollah for the rocket attack that killed 12 children in Majdal Shams, a Syrian Druze town in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Hezbollah denies it was behind the attack.

More than 20,000DruzeArabs live in the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in 1967. Many of them identify as Syrian and have rejected an offer of Israeli citizenship. None of the people killed in Saturday’s attack held Israeli citizenship, the Regional Council of Majdal Shams told CNN.

The strike was the deadliesttohit Israel orIsraeli-controlled territory since the October 7attack by Hamas.

The United States and several European countries have reiterated calls for their citizens to urgently leave Lebanon, as the country braces for an Israeli response to adeadly rocket attackthat Israel has blamed on the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

The US Embassy of Beirut recommends a “crisis plan of action” for US citizens in Lebanon, Rena Bitter, assistant secretary for consular affairs, said in a video message posted on X Monday.

Bitter said US citizens should leave before a crisis begins, or if transportation is not available, “individuals already in Lebanon should be prepared to shelter in place for long periods of time.” She also warned against relatives coming to Lebanon “should conflict increase in the region.”

A German foreign ministry spokesperson on Monday also called on Germans still in Lebanon to urgently leave.The Belgian foreign ministry warned its citizens the security situation could deteriorate without notice and that the entire country could be affected by escalating conflict.

Other European countries, including the United Kingdom and Ireland, have said their previous warnings from late June still stand. Last month, countries around the world urged citizens to leave Lebanon amid heightened tensions and daily exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Two people were killed and three were wounded, including a child, in a double drone strike in south Lebanon, the country’s state-owned news agency (NNA) reported Monday.

A Lebanese security source told CNN it was an Israeli drone strike.

CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment.

A drone had struck a car near Lebanon’s border with Israel, wounding two people, according to NNA. Two people on a motorcycle who drove to the vehicle to check on the wounded were killed by a second drone, NNA said.

NNA did not say whether the dead were fighters or civilians.

This comes after Israel blamed the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah for arocketattackin theIsraeli-occupiedGolanHeightsthat killed 12 childrenandteenagerson Saturday, which Hezbollah denies.

Israel’s emergencysecuritycabinet has authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuand Defense MinisterYoav Gallanttodecide on“thenature” and “timing”oftheresponseagainst Hezbollah, according to a Sunday statement from the prime minister’soffice.

This comes after Israel blamed the Lebanese militant group for arocketattackin theIsraeli-occupiedGolanHeightsthat killed 12 childrenandteenagerson Saturday, which Hezbollah denies orchestrating.

Lebanon’s caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib has however said he received reassurances from third countries that Israel’s response to the strike will be limited, hinting that the US and France were two of those countries.

The attack was the deadliesttohit Israel orIsraeli-controlled territory since the October 7attack by Hamas. Israel vowed Hezbollah will “pay the price.”

The strike has raised fears once again that an all-out war could envelop the region. A key backer of Hezbollah, Iran has warned against “any new adventures” aimed at Lebanon, while Bou Habib said his country will not get involved in a war, but will stand behind Hezbollah.

Bou Habib also warned that other actors in the region may get involved, including in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Only 14% of Gazais not under Israeli evacuation orders, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees(UNRWA)Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarinisaid Sunday.

“Almost everyone inGazahas been impacted by these orders,” he said, adding that many Palestinians have been forced to flee on average once a month since October 7.

Human rights agencies have warned against Israeli evacuation orders issued without the promise of safety or secure accommodation for Palestinians trying to survive bombardment. Israel has previously asked Palestinians to relocate from “humanitarian zones” as it expanded its military operation or sought to uproot what it said were Hamas fighters embedded in the areas.

Lazzarini warned that theevacuationorders arecreating havoc and panic as well as bringing more misery and suffering to civilians. “The peopleofGazaarenot pinballs or chess pieces, theyarepeople,” he said on X.

The statement comes hours after the Israeli military issued another evacuation order for Palestinians in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.

About 200,000 Palestinians have been evacuated throughout last week, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

People wait to get updated information after some flights are delayed at Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport on July 28.

Beirut’s international airport has announced several cancelations of flights to the Lebanese capital after Israel vowed to retaliate after a rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed at least 12 children.

The canceled flights were scheduled to depart the cities of Athens, Stockholm, Dusseldorf, Addis Ababa, Ankara, Antalya, and Adana on Monday, Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airportsaid.

Suspensions and delays: The Lufthansa Group has decided to suspend its flights to Beirut for the rest of the month.

Passenger airlines in the Lufthansa Group includeLufthansa Airlines, SWISS, and Eurowings.

Middle East Airlines has also announced delays for flights from London, Copenhagen, Doha, Damma, Dubai and Jeddah to Beirut.

The airport also announced further delays in flights coming from Cairo and Istanbul.

Travel alert: The US State Department has issued a security alert, advising American citizens traveling to and from Lebanon to closely monitor their flights.

Members of the Druze minority mourn during the funeral of their relatives on July 28.

Israel has vowed that Hezbollah will “pay the price” after blaming the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group fora rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heightsthat killed 12 children on Saturday.

While Hezbollah says it “firmly denies” it was behind the strike, it has raised fears once again that an all-out war would envelop the region.

Here’s what you need to know:

Meanwhile in Gaza:

Displaced Palestinians are leaving al-Bureij refugee after the Israeli army issued a new evacuation order, in the central Gaza Strip on July 28.

The Israeli military issued yet more evacuation orders to thousands of people in Gaza on Sunday.

In central Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp and Al-Shuhada street, about 30,000 people were affected by the evacuation order, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

A man evacuating the Bureij camp with his son on Sunday told CNN it was his 26thtime being displaced since his house was destroyed a few days following October 7.

Another Gazan told CNN the Palestinians there are “living like animals” and that he has to keep going for his family.

An elderly woman using a stick to walk was also seen evacuating toward the Nuseirat camp.

On Sunday, Israeliattacks killed at least 19 Palestinians, including children, and wounded numerous others across Gaza, according to health officials and Gaza’s Civil Defense.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, Nasser Kanaani, attends a press conference in Tehran on July 8.

Iran on Sunday warnedIsraelagainst “any new adventures” aimed at Lebanon following the deadly rocket strike in the town of Majdal Shams.

Israelhas blamed Hezbollah for the strike which killed at least 12 children, while the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group has denied responsibility.

Some context: Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has escalated hostilities across the region and brought a longstanding shadow war with Iran out into the open.

Iran’s allies and proxies – theso-called axis of resistance– have launched attacks on Israeli forces and its allies, including US military positions, since October.

Who is Hezbollah? An Iran-backed Islamist movementwith one of the most powerful paramilitary forces in the Middle East, Hezbollah is seen as Iran’s most effective non-state partner, possessing an estimated 150,000 rockets that could overwhelm Israel’s defenses if an all-out war breaks out.

For months, the international community has been trying to de-escalate tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

The Lebanese foreign minister has warned that if Israel responded by invading Lebanon, it risked dragging the whole region into war.

Smoke billows from the area of an Israeli air strike on the southern Lebanese village of Khiam near the border with Israel on March 23.

Israel and Hezbollah have been trading rocket fire on a near-daily basis with increasing ferocity since Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel.

Even before Saturday’s strike, regional leaders had warned the conflict was reaching a boiling point, sparking fears on several occasions that Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza would spiral into a conflict on multiple fronts across the Middle East.

The tit-far-tat strikes across the border had become more frequent in recent weeks, with both sides targeting sites deeper into each other’s territory.

Tensions increasedfurther when Israel killed two high-ranking Hezbollah commanders in June – Sami Taleb Abdullah in May and Muhammed Neamah Naser – blaming them for directing attacks both before and after the October 7 assault. Hezbollah retaliated byfiring hundreds of missilesinto Israel.

Following Saturday’s strike on the soccer field, Israeli warplanes conducted airstrikes againstHezbollahtargets “deep inside Lebanese territory” and along the border overnight Sunday, according to the military.

All eyes on Israel: Israel’s initial response appeared to stop short of the kind of attack that would launch an all-out war, but it gave rise to an incredibly tense day in the region.

Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened an emergency security cabinet meeting, and members “authorized the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense to decide on the nature of the response against the terror organization Hezbollah, and on its’ timing,” according to the Prime Minister’s Office.

Israeli officials have blamed Hezbollah for the strike and vowed to retaliate, while the Lebanese militant group has denied responsibility.

A man stands near a damaged gate around a football pitch after a reported strike in Majdal Shams village in the Israeli-annexed Golan area on July 28.

In the wake of the deadly strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, some residents of the town of Majdal Shams have questioned whether the area’s warning system was working properly.

An eyewitness to the strike on the soccer field told CNN’s Jeremy Diamond that the rocket hit less than five seconds after the sirens sounded.

No time to react: Majdal Shams resident Taymor Wili said he was in his apartment overlooking the soccer field when the rocket hit. He said there was no time for the children on the field to react between the first alert siren and the moment of impact.

He also said the safety shelter was only yards from the soccer field and if those on the pitch had had more time, they likely could have made it to the shelter.

Video of the safety shelter shows it yards away from the crater made by the rocket’s impact.

In several videos from Majdal Shams, sirens can be heard for several seconds before the rocket hits.

Israel says system was working: The Israeli military told CNN that a preliminary examination showed the alert system was working properly before the rocket hit.

Abdallah Bou Habib, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Emigrants of Lebanon attends a Security Council meeting at UN Headquarters in New York on July 17.

Lebanon has said it received reassurances from third countries that Israel’s response to the deadly strike on a town in the Israeli-occupiedGolanHeightswill be limited.

Hezbollah’s response to Israel’s escalation will also be limited, caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told Lebanese media on Sunday.

Israeli officials have blamed Hezbollah for the strike and vowed to retaliate, while the Lebanese militant group has denied responsibility.

Asked to identify the countries that had offered reassurance, the minister hinted that the US and France weretwo of those countries.

CNN has reached out to the US State Department for comment.

The minister earlier said Lebanon would not get involved in a war but would stand behind Hezbollah.

Members of the Druze minority hold a photo of Alma Fakhr al-Din at her funeral on July 28.

Eleven-year-old Alma was daddy’s little girl. She used to get away with anything she wanted. Her father, Ayman Fakhr al-Din said she was always filled with energy and loved playing sports.

Almawas killed alongside 11 other childrenwhen a rocket hit a football pitch in Majdal Shamsin the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday.

At least 44 people were wounded in the attack that has rocked thetown’s SyrianDruzecommunity.

Caught between the simmering conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, people here tell CNN they’re used to hearing sirens and seeing rockets flying overhead – but never like this.

When Fakhr al-Din heard the massive attack rock the area, he called his eldest son, 13-year-old Rayan, to check on him.

Rayan and his younger brother had been playingonthe football pitch just minutes before the rocket fell. Fakhr al-Din was relieved to know they were alive.

Their brothers assumed she had gone home, but Fakhr al-Din thought he’d go to the scene regardless.

The town’s tight-knit community is filled with a sense of bewilderment and shock.

Thousands of mourners paid their respects on Sunday at a funeral procession, with people standing on balconies and rooftops overlooking the ceremony.

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What is the Golan Heights? The Golan Heights is a plateau that Israel seized from Syria during the Six-Day War in 1967 before formally annexing it in 1981. It shares a border with Jordan and Lebanon.

The Israeli-occupied part of the region is separated from Syria by a buffer zone supported by the United Nations.

The Golan Heights is considered to be occupied territory under international law and UN Security Council resolutions, and Syria continues to demand it be returned.

The area has often been a flashpoint, most recently in 2019 when former President Donald Trump said theUS would recognize Israel’s sovereigntyover the Golan Heights – a move that overturned years of policy and worsened tensions with Syria.

Israel sees the Golan Heights as key to its national security interests and says it needs to control the region to fend off threats from Syria and Iranian proxy groups there.

Who are the Druze? The Druze are an Arab sect of roughly one million people who primarily live in Syria, Lebanon and Israel.The group practices an offshoot of Islam that permits no converts – either to or from the religion – and no intermarriage.

More than 20,000 Druze live in the Golan Heights. Most of them identify as Syrian and rejected an offer of Israeli citizenship when Israel seized the region in 1967.

None of the Druze killed in Saturday’s attack on the soccer field held Israeli citizenship, the Regional Council of Majdal Shams told CNN.

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Back in May,Amos Hochstein,USPresidentJoeBiden’s point-man for keeping a lid on tensions between Israel andthe Lebanese militant groupHezbollah,spokein a webinar.

The equivalent of that buscame onSaturday evening in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights when a rocket, which Israel says was launched by Hezbollah, slammed into asoccerpitch in the Druzetown of Majdal Shams and killed 12 children.Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the strike.

Will Hochstein’s fear come to pass? If Israel’s Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, is to be believed, it probably will.

The United States has blessed retaliatory action,to some degree.

Theresponse,so far,has been timid.

But on a visit to Majdal Shams on Saturday, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant pledged a heavy response.

“Hezbollahis responsible for this and they will pay the price,” Gallant said. In an earlier statement from his office, he said:

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