Photo: Leo Correa Associated Press Two men stand in front of photos of the 12 victims of Saturday's attack in the occupied Syrian Golan.
Benoît Finck – Agence France-Presse in Jerusalem
Published at 8:38 Updated at 10:12
- Middle East
Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah exchanged fire on Tuesday, after a deadly strike on the Golan Heights raised fears of a flare-up in the region on the fringes of the war in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that his country would provide a “severe response” to the attack that killed 12 children and teenagers on Saturday in the part of the Syrian Golan Heights annexed by Israel.
The rocket attack on a soccer field in the small Druze town of Majdal Shams was blamed by Israel and the United States on the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah, which denied the attack.
The attack has revived fears that the war in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah, could spread to Lebanon and that there could be widespread conflict in the region.
An Israeli civilian was killed Tuesday by a rocket falling in northern Israel, according to emergency services, and the army said it had responded to a barrage of rockets by firing toward Lebanon.
The army had announced earlier that it had struck “about ten Hezbollah terrorist targets” in “seven areas different” from southern Lebanon, and killed a member of the armed movement.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, triggered on October 7 by the unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israeli soil, exchanges of fire have been almost daily on Israel's northern border with Lebanon, between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, an all-powerful movement in Lebanon, supported by Iran.
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The “forbidden” revenge
“These children are our children… The State of Israel will not and cannot let this go. Our response will come, and it will be severe,” Netanyahu said on Monday, during a visit to Majdal Shams.
Druze leaders in the town said after the visit that they rejected the idea of a response, based on the doctrine of their community, whose religion is derived from Islam.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000“The tragedy is immense,” they stressed. But because of the Druze doctrine, which “forbids murder and revenge in any form, we reject shedding even a drop of blood under the pretext of avenging our children,” they added.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Tuesday that it was “deeply concerned about the growing threat of widespread conflict throughout the region” and “urged all parties and the international community to work urgently to de-escalate tensions.”
Several airlines, including Air France and Lufthansa, have suspended flights to Beirut since Monday.
The CEO of Middle East Airlines, the Lebanese national airline, Mohammad al-Hout, however assured that the airport “had not received any threats.”
In Beirut, residents met by AFP were worried about this fever outbreak, while others seemed resigned.
“I live in constant worry. I think about how I could make my children flee if war breaks out. This situation of waiting and instability is tiring,” testified Cosette Béchara, a 40-year-old employee and mother of two children.
But for Valentine Fadlallah, a 37-year-old psychologist met by a swimming pool, “life goes on, we live day by day.” “We have already experienced this with all these wars,” underlined the young woman.
The international community is increasing efforts to prevent an escalation. A French diplomat told AFP in Beirut that France, “alongside other partners, notably the United States, was making all-out efforts to call on the parties to exercise restraint.”
Withdrawal of Khan Younès
In the Gaza Strip, strikes and artillery fire were reported Tuesday in Khan Younes and Rafah in the south, at al-Bureij camp in the center, and in Gaza City in the north.
The Civil Defense announced that the Israeli military operation launched on July 22 in the Khan Younis governorate had left about 300 dead.
The army declared on Tuesday that it had completed this operation and had killed “more than 150 terrorists.”
According to AFP correspondents, citing witnesses, tank fire targeted the east of Khan Younis early Tuesday. At least eight bodies have been found in the area, according to rescuers and doctors.
The war broke out on October 7, when Hamas commandos carried out an attack in southern Israel that killed 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data.
Of the 251 people kidnapped at the time, 111 are still being held in Gaza, 39 of whom are dead, according to the army.
In response, Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, which has been in power in the Palestinian territory since 2007 and which it considers a terrorist organization, as do the United States and the European Union.
Its army has launched an offensive that has so far left 39,400 dead, according to data from the Health Ministry of the Hamas-led Gaza government, which does not provide information on the number of civilians and combatants killed.