By Avi Ohayon
MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights (Reuters) – Thousands of mourners attended the funerals on Sunday of 12 children and teenagers killed in a rocket attack on the occupied Golan Heights, as Israel vowed swift retaliation against Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack on Majdal Shams, the deadliest in Israel or Israeli-annexed territory since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian Hamas movement sparked the Gaza war. The conflict has spread to several fronts and now threatens to spill over into a wider regional conflict.
Israeli aircraft struck targets in southern Lebanon overnight but a stronger response is expected after a security cabinet meeting at 6 p.m. (1500 GMT). Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned from a visit to the United States.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said all indications were that the rocket that fell on a sports field where children were playing soccer was launched by Hezbollah, adding that Washington stands by Israel’s right to defend itself.
But he said the United States did not want a further escalation of the conflict, which has seen daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli military and Hezbollah along the border.
Britain expressed concern about further escalation, while Egypt said the attack could turn “into a full-scale regional war”.
On the ground, families gathered for funerals in the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, territory Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 war and annexed in a move not recognized by most countries.
Members of the Druze sect, which is linked to Islam, Christianity and Judaism, make up more than half of the Golan Heights’ 40,000 residents. Large crowds of mourners, many wearing traditional white and red Druze headdresses, surrounded the coffins as they were carried through the village.
“A heavy tragedy and a dark day have come to Majdal Shams,” said Dolan Abu Saleh, head of the local council in Majdal Shams, in remarks broadcast on Israeli television.
Hezbollah initially announced that it had fired rockets at Israeli military sites in the Golan Heights, but said it had “absolutely nothing to do” with the attack on Majdal Shams.
Israel accuses Hezbollah
But Israel said the rocket was an Iranian-made missile fired from an area north of the village of Shebaa in southern Lebanon, placing full blame on the Iran-backed group and saying Hezbollah was “unequivocally responsible.”
It was not immediately clear whether the children and teenagers killed in the strike were Israeli citizens, but Israeli officials have vowed revenge.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said, “The missile that killed our sons and daughters was an Iranian missile, and Hezbollah is the only terrorist organization that has such missiles in its arsenal.”
Two security sources told Reuters that Hezbollah is on high alert and has evacuated some key sites in southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley in anticipation of an Israeli attack.
Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines said it had postponed the arrival of some flights from Sunday night to Monday morning, without explaining the reasons.
In the southern coastal city of Tyre, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the border, beachgoers were still flocking to the shore. “There is fear of an Israeli response, but people are living their lives normally,” said Ali Husseini, manager of a beach shop in Tyre.
Israeli forces have been exchanging fire with Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon for months, but both sides appear to be avoiding an escalation that could lead to all-out war, which could draw in other powers including the United States and Iran.
But Saturday’s strike threatened to push the standoff into a more dangerous phase. U.N. officials urged both sides to exercise maximum restraint, warning that an escalation could “plunge the entire region into an unimaginable catastrophe.”
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told Reuters that Lebanon has asked the United States to urge Israel to show restraint. Bou Habib added that the United States has asked the Lebanese government to convey a message to Hezbollah to show restraint as well.
fear of all-out war
The Iranian Foreign Ministry warned Israel on Sunday against what it called any new adventure in Lebanon.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry said it held Israel “fully responsible for this dangerous escalation in the region” and said its accusations against Hezbollah were false.
Two diplomats specializing in Lebanese affairs said that all efforts are now required to avoid a full-scale war.
The conflict has forced tens of thousands of people in both Lebanon and Israel to flee their homes. Israeli strikes have killed some 350 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and more than 100 civilians, including medics, children and journalists.
The Israeli military said after Saturday’s attack that the civilian death toll from Hezbollah attacks had risen to 23 since October, along with at least 17 soldiers.
Hezbollah is the most powerful of a network of Iranian-backed groups across the Middle East and opened a second front against Israel shortly after Hamas’s October 7 attack.
Iraqi groups and Houthi rebels in Yemen have fired rockets at Israel, which earlier this month attacked the Red Sea port of Hodeidah in retaliation for a strike on Tel Aviv that killed one person. Hamas has also launched rocket attacks on Israel from Lebanon, as has the Lebanese Sunni group al-Jamaa al-Islamiya.
Druze communities live on both sides of the dividing line between southern Lebanon and northern Israel, as well as in the Golan Heights and Syria. While some serve in the Israeli army and identify with Israel, many feel marginalized in Israel, and some even reject Israeli citizenship.