Israel says Hezbollah will “pay the price” after blaming it for the attack on a soccer field that killed 12 people

CNN
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Israel threatened that Hezbollah would “pay the price” after blaming the Lebanese militant group for a rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 children, raising renewed fears that the region could be engulfed in all-out war.

Hezbollah says it “strongly denies” being behind the attack, the deadliest in Israel since the October 7 attacks.

According to a statement from the military on Sunday morning, Israeli warplanes carried out air strikes on Hezbollah targets “deep inside Lebanese territory” and along the border during the night. It was initially unclear whether there were any casualties in these attacks.

And during a visit to the town of Majdal Shams near the Syrian and Lebanese border, where children and teenagers were killed in a rocket attack on Saturday, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant promised a strong response.

“Hezbollah is responsible for this and it will pay the price,” Gallant said. In an earlier statement from his office, he added: “We will hit the enemy hard.”

Saturday’s attacks on the region involved “about 30 missiles” that entered Israeli territory from Lebanon; the Israeli military quickly blamed the Iranian-backed militant group for the volley.

All 12 victims of Saturday’s attack were children playing on a soccer field, according to a list provided by Israel’s Foreign Ministry and local residents who spoke to CNN. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Sunday backed Israel’s assessment, saying “all indications” point to the attack being a rocket fired by Hezbollah.

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About 20,000 Druze Arabs live in the Golan Heights, territory Israel captured from Syria in 1967 during the Six-Day War and annexed in 1981. The area is considered occupied territory under international law and UN Security Council resolutions and is also home to about 50,000 Israeli Jewish settlers. Most Druze there identify as Syrian and have rejected offers of Israeli citizenship.

Hundreds of mourners lined the streets on Sunday to take part in a funeral procession to honor the strike victims. People dressed in black sang as white coffins were carried to a funeral home, others carried floral wreaths.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said at the funeral: “The children who died on that football field could have been any of our children. Therefore, they are indeed the children of any of us. These are our children.”

Since Hamas’ attacks on Israel on October 7, Israel and Hezbollah have been firing rockets at each other on an almost daily basis. The exchange of blows has become increasingly explosive and has repeatedly raised fears that Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip could escalate into a multi-front conflict throughout the Middle East.

Although Hezbollah admitted attacking the Golan Heights on Saturday, it denied responsibility for the attack on Majdal Shams.

“We confirm that the Islamic Resistance has no connection with the incident and strongly reject all false allegations in this regard,” it said in a statement.

Israel’s overnight response did not appear likely to result in an attack that would trigger a full-scale war, but it led to a day of incredible tension in the region.

In a statement by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani on Sunday, Iran warned Israel against “new adventures” in Lebanon. The statement said Israel “does not have the moral authority to comment on and judge the incidents in the Majdal Shams area, and the accusations of this regime against others will not be heard either.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Saturday that he would cut his visit to the United States short by several hours because of the attack and return to Israel. He also announced that he would convene a meeting of the security cabinet immediately after his return.

The prime minister said he was “shocked” by the attack. “I can say that the State of Israel will not remain silent on this. We will not remove the issue from the agenda,” he said.