The Israeli Foreign Ministry said on Sunday, July 28, that Lebanese Hezbollah had “crossed all the red lines”after the rocket attack on Saturday which killed twelve people on the Golan Heights, a Syrian territory annexed by the Hebrew state. “Saturday’s massacre is Hezbollah’s crossing of all red lines. This is not an army fighting another army, but a terrorist organization deliberately shooting at civilians.”the ministry said in a statement.
Hezbollah, a Lebanese Islamist movement backed by Iran, denied being behind the deadly attack. “The rocket that killed our boys and girls was an Iranian rocket, and Hezbollah is the only terrorist organization that has one in its arsenal.”the Israeli ministry said. “Israel will exercise its right and duty of self-defense and respond to this massacre”he stressed. On Saturday, the Israeli army had already blamed Hezbollah for the rocket attack that killed children and adolescents aged 10 to 16 who were playing on a football field in Majdal Shams. About thirty wounded people were still hospitalized in Israel on Sunday morning.
Security Committee Meeting
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will return early from a visit to the United States, has promised that“Israel will not let[it] not this deadly attack without response”He is due to chair a meeting of the safety committee later today.
Majdal Shams, a small Druze town of about 11,000 people, is located in the Golan Heights, a strategic region due to its geographical location at the crossroads of three countries (Syria, Lebanon, Israel), which was largely conquered by Israel during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Israel annexed two-thirds of it in 1981. The international community has never recognized this annexation. About half of the population of the Golan Heights is composed of Druze, many of whom retain Syrian nationality but can study and work in Israel, without having the right to vote.