BEIRUT: Lebanon on Sunday called for an international investigation into an attack that killed 12 people, including children, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights and warned of large-scale retaliation.
Hezbollah on Saturday rejected Israel's accusations of bombing Majdal Shams. In a statement, it said: “The Islamic Resistance has nothing to do with the incident and we categorically deny all false allegations in this regard.”
Following Hezbollah's statement, Walid Jumblatt, former head of the Progressive Social Party – the most powerful Druze leader in Lebanon – warned against “the actions of the Israeli enemy to foment unrest, fragment the region and attack its various communities.”
His warning came as Israel launched heavy attacks on the villages of Al-Abbassieh and Burj Al-Shamali near Tyre in southern Lebanon on Sunday morning, causing widespread destruction.
They also raided the border villages of Tayr Harfa and Khiam and fired two rockets at a residential building in Taraya in the middle of the Bekaa Valley. The building was destroyed, but there were no casualties.
The attack in Majdal Shams came hours after an Israeli raid on the southern border village of Kfarkila in which four Hezbollah members were killed.
In a statement, the Lebanese government condemned “all acts of violence and attacks against civilians,” adding that “attacks against civilians constitute a blatant violation of international law and are contrary to the principles of humanity.”
It calls for an “immediate cessation of hostilities on all fronts.”
Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib said in a statement on Sunday: “Since the beginning of the war, Hezbollah has attacked military sites and not civilians, and I do not believe it carried out this attack in Majdal Shams.”
He added: “Maybe it was planned by other organizations… an Israeli mistake or even a Hezbollah mistake, I don't know. We need international investigations to bring out the truth.”
In a joint statement, UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Lieutenant General Aroldo Lazaro condemned “the deaths of civilians, including young children and teenagers, in Majdal Shams” and stressed that “civilians must be protected at all times”.
They called on “the parties to exercise maximum restraint and to put an end to the ongoing, intensified exchanges of fire, which could trigger a larger conflagration that would plunge the entire region into an unimaginable catastrophe.”
The UN Special Coordinator spoke on the phone with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who is considered the most important communication channel with Hezbollah.
According to his press office, Berri reiterated: “Lebanon and its resistance movement are committed to UN Resolution 1701 and the rules of engagement by refraining from carrying out attacks against civilians.”
Berri added: “The resistance's denial of any involvement in the Majdal Shams incident strongly reinforces this commitment and underlines that neither Lebanon nor the resistance are responsible for what happened.”
UNIFIL spokeswoman Andrea Tenenti said her organization was in contact with the parties to reduce tensions.
Jumblatt received a phone call from US Middle East mediator Amos Hochstein, who expressed concern about the escalating situation on the southern Lebanese front following the Majdal Shams incident.
Jumblatt tried to defuse the situation since most of Majdal Shams' residents are Druze.
He said that “attacks on civilians are rejected and condemned, whether in occupied Palestine, the occupied Golan Heights or southern Lebanon,” adding that “the history of the Israeli enemy is full of massacres of civilians.”
Activists and supporters on television channels and social media platforms denied Hezbollah's involvement in the attack on Majdal Shams, stating: “There are no settlers in Majdal Shams that the party could attack, and it knows this.”
Hezbollah's denial was in vain, as the Israeli army insisted on blaming Hezbollah for the rocket launch.
Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee said: “Ali Mohammed Yahya, the commander of the launch complex in the Shebaa area, ordered the launch of rockets at the village of Majdal Shams.”
Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon on Sunday caused enormous destruction but no human casualties. The attacks targeted two large hangars in Al-Abbassieh and Burj Al-Shemali.
Regular attacks on the area since the start of hostilities between Hezbollah and the Israeli army have caused panic among the population and damaged dozens of houses and apartments.
A Lebanese security source said: “Seven Israeli warplanes carried out the attacks simultaneously.”
Adraee claimed the attacks hit Hezbollah targets in seven different areas of Lebanon, including weapons depots and infrastructure, and were deeply rooted in Lebanon and the south of the country.
Hezbollah responded to the attacks by attacking “the positions of Israeli soldiers in the Manara settlement,” the party said in a statement.
Israeli government officials vowed again on Sunday that Hezbollah would pay for it.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said: “This is a very difficult and painful event for these children. It is a terrible tragedy. Hezbollah is responsible for this and will pay for it.”
Gallant spoke during a visit to Majdal Shams, where funeral processions were held for the victims.
According to Adraee, Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi visited Majdal Shams on Saturday evening.
General Halevi inspected the hit football field and confirmed readiness for the next phase of fighting in the north.
“We know exactly where the rocket was fired from,” he said. “We have examined the remains of the rocket on the walls of the football field here.”
“We can say that it was a Falaq rocket with a 53 kg warhead. This is a Hezbollah rocket. Anyone who fires such a rocket at a populated area has the intention of killing civilians, has the intention of killing children.”
Reuters reported, citing two security sources, that Hezbollah was “on high alert and had evacuated some key locations in eastern and southern Lebanon.”
France and Norway urged their citizens to “avoid travel to Lebanon and Israel” and called on people living in the country to leave.
