Tel Aviv, Israel — The Middle East was bracing for a possible outbreak of violence on Sunday after Israeli authorities said a Rocket from Lebanon hit a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, killing 12 children and teenagers in what the military said was the deadliest attack on civilians since October 7. The strike raised fears of a broader regional war. between Israel and Hezbollah, which denied having participated in the attack.
Overnight, the Israeli military said it had struck several targets inside Lebanon, although the intensity of the attacks was similar to months of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
Saturday’s attack comes at a delicate time, as Israel and Hamas are negotiating a ceasefire proposal to end the nearly 10-month war in Gaza and free the approximately 110 hostages held captive there.
Here’s a look at the broader repercussions of Saturday’s attack:
On Saturday, just before sunset, a rocket crashed into a soccer field where dozens of children and teenagers were playing in the Druze town of Majdal Shams, located about 12 kilometers (7 miles) south of Lebanon and next to the border. with Syria. According to the Israeli army, twelve young men between the ages of 10 and 20 were killed and 20 wounded.
“I feel darkness inside and out. Nothing like that happened here,” Majdal Shams resident Anan Abu Saleh said from the soccer field Saturday night. “There is no way to explain this. I saw children, I don’t want to say what I saw, but it’s horrible, really horrible. “We need more security.”
Shrapnel and blood spatter marked the field as emergency workers collected backpacks and burned bicycles. Overnight, residents began setting up hundreds of chairs in the field where the attack took place to hold a mass memorial. Residents told Israeli media it was the only place in the city that could accommodate the tens of thousands of people expected to gather.
On Sunday morning, many of the bodies were taken to a community center in Majdal Shams, where relatives wept next to the coffins. At noon, the coffins, covered with white cloth and bearing photographs of the victims, were carried to the cemetery, passed through a crowd of thousands of people, and lined up for burial. An 11-year-old boy remains missing, residents told Israeli media.
The Druze are a religious sect that began as a branch of Shia Islam. There are Druze communities in Israel, Syria and Lebanon. There are about 140,000 Druze in Israel, 25,000 of whom live in four cities in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, according to Yusri Hazran of the Hebrew University, who is Druze and researches minorities in the Middle East.
The Druze community is considered among Israel’s most loyal citizens. Many Druze serve in the Israeli army, although those living in the Golan Heights have a more tense relationship with the authorities.
Israel captured the Golan, a strategic plateau overlooking northern Israel, from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war, and annexed it in 1981. Much of the international community considers the area occupied territory.
While Druze leaders in the Golan still profess loyalty to Syria, relations with Israel are typically good. The Druze towns in the Golan are a popular holiday destination for Israelis and are filled with hotels and restaurants, and most Druze residents speak fluent Hebrew.
Attacks on the Israel-Lebanon border have developed just below the threshold of an all-out war since the start of the conflict in October. But the death toll from the attack and the young age of the victims could push Israel to respond more severely.
The Iranian-backed government Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel the day after the Hamas attack on October 7, and Israel responded by attacking what it says is Hezbollah’s military infrastructure with airstrikes and drones. Most attacks have been limited to the area on both sides of the border, although Israel has also They assassinated the leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas. further north in Lebanon. Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border have evacuated the area.
Since early October, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have killed more than 500 people, mostly members of Hezbollah, but also about 90 civilians. On the Israeli side, 22 soldiers and 24 civilians have been killed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in the United States at the time of the attack, warned that Hezbollah “will pay a high price for this attack, a price it has not paid until now.”
Israeli Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi met with Majdal Shams leaders on Saturday night and said Israel was preparing for “the next stage of combat” in the north. “We know how to attack even very far from the State of Israel,” he said.
In an unusual move, Hezbollah denied responsibility for the attack, but Halevi said the rocket was a Falaq rocket with a 53-kilogram warhead that belonged to Hezbollah.
U.S. intelligence officials have no doubt that Hezbollah carried out the attack in the Golan Heights, but it was unclear whether the militant group intended to hit the target or failed, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to make public comments.
Lebanon’s government, in a statement that did not mention Majdal Shams, called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities on all fronts” and condemned all attacks against civilians.
Iran warned Israel on Sunday that a strong reaction to the attack on the Golan Heights will have “unprecedented consequences.”
“Any reckless action by the Zionist regime is a basis for the spread of instability, insecurity and war in the region,” said Nasser Kanaani, spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry. The years-long shadow war between Iran and Israel came to light in April, when Iran launched 300 missiles and drones at Israel, most of which were intercepted, in response to the assassination of an Iranian general.
An Egyptian official said the attack on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights could give urgency to negotiations to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza, which would be reflected on the Israeli-Hezbollah front.
He said mediators will use such an attack to press for a ceasefire in Gaza to avoid an all-out war in the region.
“Both fronts are connected,” he said. “A ceasefire in Gaza will lead to a ceasefire with Hezbollah.”
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the sensitive conversations with the media.
Officials from the United States, Egypt and Qatar will meet with Israeli officials in Rome on Sunday in the latest attempt to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
___
Magdy reported from Cairo.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
