US blames Hezbollah for rocket attack on Golan Heights that killed 12 teenagers

WASHINGTON – The White House said Monday that the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah was responsible for the weekend rocket attack that killed 12 children and teenagers in the Golan Heights.

“It was their missile. It was launched from an area they control,” said John Kirby, White House national security spokesman.

Hezbollah has denied any involvement in the attack. A rocket hit a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan on Saturday. The attack has heightened tensions along the Israeli-Lebanese border and raised fears of a wider war in the Middle East.

Israel also blamed Hezbollah for the attack and threatened retaliation, but the US urged restraint.

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Kirby said the U.S. supports Israel’s right to defend itself, but added that the Biden administration believes there is “still time and space for a diplomatic solution.”

“It was Hezbollah that started firing on Israel back in October. And I think we have to keep that in mind,” he said. “But nobody wants a major war, and I’m confident we can avoid that outcome.”

The United States is in contact with Israel and Lebanon and will continue to support efforts to find a diplomatic solution, Kirby said.

The United States is currently leading a diplomatic push to prevent Israel from attacking the Lebanese capital Beirut or key civilian infrastructure in response to the attack, Reuters reported, citing five anonymous sources familiar with the effort.

The focus of the high-speed diplomacy is to constrain Israel’s response by urging it not to attack densely populated Beirut, the city’s southern suburbs that form Hezbollah’s heartland, or key infrastructure such as airports and bridges, Reuters reported. The news agency said its sources included Lebanese and Iranian officials, as well as diplomats from the Middle East and Europe.

Hezbollah is the most powerful in Iran’s network of regional proxy groups and has declared allegiance to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Since the Gaza war began last October, the group has been trading blows with the Israeli military across Lebanon’s southern border.

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