Hezbollah on high alert, Lebanon calls on US to urge Israel to exercise restraint

Hezbollah was on high alert on Sunday as tensions escalated following a deadly attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that Israel blamed on the Lebanese armed group, two security sources told Reuters.

Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack. Security sources said Hezbollah had preemptively evacuated some key locations in southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley in case of a possible attack by Israel.

The Lebanese government has called on the United States to urge Israel to exercise restraint, Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told Reuters on Sunday.

Bou Habib said the US had asked the Lebanese government to also send a message to Hezbollah urging it to exercise restraint. Israel has vowed swift retaliation after a rocket fired from Lebanon hit a soccer field in the Golan Heights village of Majdal Shams, killing 12 children and teenagers. The military said it was the worst attack on civilians since October 7.

The Israeli military said it attacked several targets in Lebanon overnight, but said the intensity of the attacks was comparable to months of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.