BEIRUT: Lebanon on Sunday called for an international investigation into an attack that killed 12 people, including children, on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, warning of large-scale reprisals.
Hezbollah rejected Israel's accusation that it bombed Majdal Shams on Saturday, saying in a statement that “the Islamic Resistance had nothing to do with the incident and we categorically deny all false claims in this regard.”
Following Hezbollah's statement, Walid Jumblatt, former head of the Progressive Socialist Party, the most powerful Druze leader in Lebanon, warned against “what the Israeli enemy is doing to spark conflicts, fragment the region and target its various communities.”
His warning came as Israel conducted intensive raids on the villages of Al-Abbassieh and Burj Al-Shamali near Tyre in southern Lebanon on Sunday morning, causing widespread destruction.
It also carried out raids on the border villages of Tayr Harfa and Khiam and targeted a residential building in Taraya, central Bekaa, with two missiles, destroying the building but causing no casualties.
The attack on 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 all civilians,” adding that “targeting civilians is a flagrant violation of international law and contradicts the principles of humanity.”
He called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities on all fronts.”
Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib said in a statement on Sunday that “since the beginning of the war, Hezbollah has targeted military and not civilian sites, and I do not believe it carried out this attack on Majdal Shams.”
He added: “It could have been planned by other organizations… an Israeli mistake or even a mistake by Hezbollah, I don't know. We need international investigations to find 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 children and adolescents, in Majdal Shams,” stressing that “civilians must be protected at all times.”
They urged “the parties to exercise maximum restraint and to end the current intense exchanges of fire, as they could trigger a wider fire that would engulf the entire region in an unbelievable catastrophe.”
The UN Special Coordinator had a phone call with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, considered the most important channel of communication with Hezbollah.
According to his press office, Berri said that “Lebanon and its resistance are committed to respecting UN resolution 1701 and the rules of engagement by refraining from targeting civilians.”
Berri added that “the resistance's denial of its involvement in the Majdal Shams incident strongly reaffirms this commitment and underlines that neither Lebanon nor the resistance are responsible for what happened.”
UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said his organization is in contact with the parties to ease tensions.
Jumblatt received a phone call from US Middle East mediator Amos Hochstein, who expressed concern about the escalation of the situation on the southern Lebanese front after the Majdal Shams incident.
Jumblatt tried to defuse the situation, since most of the inhabitants of Majdal Shams are Druze.
He said that “targeting civilians is rejected and condemned, whether in occupied Palestine, the occupied Golan or southern Lebanon,” adding that “the history of the Israeli enemy is full of massacres against civilians.”
Activists and supporters on television channels and social media platforms have denied Hezbollah's involvement in the Majdal Shams attack, stressing that “there are no settlers in Majdal Shams for the party to target, and it knows it.”
Hezbollah's denial was of no avail, as the Israeli military insisted that the party was responsible for the rocket launch.
Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee said: “Ali Mohammed Yahya, commander of the launch complex in the Shebaa area, ordered the launch of rockets towards the village of Majdal Shams.”
Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon on Sunday caused massive destruction but no human casualties. The airstrikes targeted two large hangars in Al-Abbassieh and Burj Al-Shemali.
Regular incursions into the area since the start of hostilities between Hezbollah and the Israeli army have caused panic among residents, damaging dozens of homes and apartments.
A Lebanese security source said: “Seven Israeli warplanes carried out the raids simultaneously.”
Adraee said the strikes hit Hezbollah targets in seven different areas of Lebanon, deep inside the country and in its south, including weapons depots and infrastructure.
According to a statement by the party, Hezbollah responded to the attacks by targeting “the positioning of Israeli soldiers in the Manara settlement.”
Israeli officials continued to promise on Sunday that they will make Hezbollah pay.
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.”
Gallant was speaking during a visit to Majdal Shams, where funeral processions for the victims were held.
According to Adraee, Israeli Chief of Staff General Herzi Halevi visited Majdal Shams on Saturday evening.
General Halevi inspected the affected football field, confirming readiness for the next phase of fighting in the north.
“We know exactly where the rocket was fired from,” he said. “We've 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 launches a rocket like that into a populated area intends to kill civilians, intends to kill children.”
Reuters reported, citing two security sources, that Hezbollah “is on high alert and has evacuated some key sites in eastern and southern Lebanon.”
France and Norway have called on their citizens “to avoid travelling to Lebanon and Israel” and have asked those in the country to leave Lebanon.
