US in “ongoing talks” with Israel and Lebanon after rocket attack

The United States said on Sunday that it was in “ongoing talks” with Israel and Lebanon after Israel and the United States blamed Hezbollah for a rocket attack a day earlier on a soccer field in the Golan Heights that At least 12 children and teenagers killedand thus raised fears of a larger conflict in the region.

Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for the US National Security Council, said on Sunday that the rocket was a Hezbollah rocket and “was fired from territory under its control.” Hezbollah denies responsibility.

The Israeli military confirmed that it had launched air strikes on Hezbollah targets “deep inside Lebanese territory.”

The airstrikes were apparently in retaliation for Saturday’s rocket attack, which Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said was the deadliest attack on Israel since the Oct. 7 attack. Hagari said 20 other people were injured.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was in Japan, told reporters on Sunday that “everything indicates that the rockets did indeed come from Hezbollah or that the rocket did come from them.”

Saturday’s attack raised fears that the conflict between Israel and Hamas could escalate into a larger regional war. A US official told CBS News that Saturday was a busy day of “almost all-out war” between Israel and Hezbollah.

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met separately with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic candidate, as well as visited the Republican candidateformer President Donald Trump, at Mar-a-Lago. White House officials fear a “horror scenario” in which a stray missile or projectile could have unintended consequences such as mass casualties and force a harsher Israeli response.

Biden’s White House officials have been making phone calls trying to de-escalate the situation and contain the response. But US officials stressed that Israel has the “right to defend itself” and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Sunday on the show “Face the Nation”:but added: “I don’t think anyone wants a bigger war. So I hope there are steps to de-escalate.”

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, said on “Face the Nation“, he said on Sunday that he was concerned about the “hasty move by Hezbollah and its allies to acquire nuclear weapons” should the conflict escalate further.

“I’m very concerned that not only could a second front be opened, but that they could use these three or four months before our election to quickly get a nuclear weapon,” Graham said. “And we have to make it clear to them that that cannot happen.”

Thousands of Druze members gathered in Majdal Shams to attend the funerals of those killed, the Times of Israel reported. Mourners shouted at government officials, the Times of Israel reported. One man shouted at far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich: “Get him out of here!”

“There is no doubt that Hezbollah has crossed all red lines here, and the reaction will reflect that,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Israel’s Channel 12. “We are approaching the moment when we face a full-scale war.”

Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif told the Associated Press that the group “categorically denies carrying out an attack on the town of Majdal Shams.” It is unusual for Hezbollah to deny an attack.

The office of Netanyahu, who was in the United States on a visit, said he would shorten his trip by several hours, but did not specify when he would return. It said he would convene the security cabinet upon his arrival.

Far-right members of Netanyahu’s government have called for a tough response against Hezbollah, but an open war with a militant group whose firepower far exceeds that of Hamas would be a test for Israel’s military after nearly 10 months of fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s Channel 12 broadcast footage of a large explosion in one of the valleys of the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981. Some Druze hold Israeli citizenship. Many still sympathize with Syria and opposed the Israeli annexation, but their ties to Israeli society have grown over the years.

A video showed paramedics carrying stretchers from the football field to waiting ambulances.

Ha’il Mahmoud, a local resident, told Channel 12 that children were playing soccer when the rocket hit the field. He said a siren was heard seconds before the rocket hit, but there was no time to seek shelter.

Jihan Sfadi, the principal of a primary school, told Channel 12 that five students were among the dead: “The situation here is very difficult. Parents are crying, people are screaming outside. No one can digest what happened.”

The Israeli military said its analysis showed the rocket was fired from an area north of the village of Chebaa in southern Lebanon.

The attack on the soccer field just before sunset followed earlier cross-border violence on Saturday, when Hezbollah said it had killed three of its fighters, but did not say where. The Israeli military said its air force had struck a Hezbollah weapons depot in the border village of Kfar Kila, adding that fighters were there at the time.

Hezbollah said its fighters had carried out 10 separate attacks on Israeli military posts using rockets and explosive drones. The last of these targeted the Haramoun Brigade army command in Maaleh Golani with Katyusha rockets. In a separate statement, Hezbollah said it had hit the same army post with a short-range Falaq rocket. The attacks were in response to Israeli airstrikes on villages in southern Lebanon.

U.S. intelligence officials have no doubt that Hezbollah carried out the attack on the Golan Heights, but it is unclear whether the militant group intended the target or whether the shot misfired, said a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly.

The White House National Security Council said in a statement that the US “will continue to support efforts to end these horrific attacks along the Blue Line, which must be a top priority. Our support for Israel’s security is rock solid and unwavering against all Iranian-backed terrorist groups, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.”

The Lebanese government, in a statement that did not mention Majdal Shams, called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities on all fronts” and condemned all attacks on civilians.

Israel and Hezbollah have been trading blows since October 8, one day after Hamas fighters invaded southern Israel. In recent weeks, the exchange of fire along the Lebanese-Israeli border has intensified. Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks are coming ever further from the border.

Majdal Shams was not among the border communities that had to be evacuated as tensions rose, the Israeli military said, without giving a reason. The town is not directly on the border with Lebanon.

Representatives from countries such as the United States and France have visited Lebanon to ease tensions, but have failed to make any progress. Hezbollah refuses to stop shelling as long as Israel’s offensive in Gaza continues. Israel and Hezbollah fought a war in 2006 without results.

Saturday’s violence comes as Israel and Hamas are considering a ceasefire that would end the nearly 10-month war in Gaza and release the roughly 110 hostages still held there. The Hamas attack on Oct. 7 killed about 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage.

According to local health authorities, more than 39,000 people have died in the Israeli offensive.

Since the beginning of October, more than 450 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah members, but also around 90 civilians and non-combatants. On the Israeli side, 45 people were killed, including at least 21 soldiers.

Margaret Brennan and Eleanor Watson contributed reporting.