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Report: Hezbollah on high alert and evacuating critical facilities

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Hezbollah was on high alert, expecting an Israeli retaliatory strike after the fatal attack on Majdal Shams on Saturday, killing 12 children, a Reuters report said, citing sources. The terrorist organization has evacuated key facilities in eastern and southern Lebanon to prepare for the possibility of an “Israeli escalation,” the sources said.

A senior official of the Iran-backed terror group said Israel would be finished if it started a war against Lebanon. Hezbollah denied being behind the rocket attack.

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חסן נסראללה , נפילה במג'דל שמס חסן נסראללה , נפילה במג'דל שמס

After the massacre of 12 children by a Hezbollah rocket attack, Hassan Nasrallah

(Photo: MDA, AFP)

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told Reuters that Beirut had called on the United States to urge Israel to exercise restraint.

Bou Habib said the United States had asked the Lebanese government to also send a message to Hezbollah urging it to exercise restraint.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he did not want to see an escalation of the conflict on Israel’s northern border. “I stress Israel’s right to defend its citizens and our determination to ensure that they are able to do so,” Blinken said during a press conference in Tokyo. “But we also do not want the conflict to escalate. We do not want it to expand.”

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Tokyo US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Tokyo

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Tokyo

(Photo: David Mareuil / Reuters )

The French Foreign Ministry condemned the attack and advised its citizens to avoid travel to Lebanon, reiterating previous warnings, including against travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the Israeli response would be forceful. “Hezbollah will have to pay for the massacre of children,” Gallant said during a visit to Majdal Shams ahead of the funeral for 11 of the children killed in the attack.

The security cabinet will meet later on Sunday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lands in Israel after cutting his visit to the United States short by a few hours. Netanyahu was criticized for initially refusing to leave earlier than planned, a claim he denied.

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