Israel’s government has authorized the government to respond to Hezbollah’s rocket attack

Israel’s security cabinet on Sunday authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to decide on the “way and timing” of its response to a rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 teenagers and children, which Israel and the United States blame on the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

Hezbollah denied responsibility for the attack on Majdal Shams on Saturday, the deadliest in Israel or territory annexed by Israel since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas sparked the Gaza war. The conflict has spread to several fronts and threatens to spill into a wider regional conflict.

Israel has announced retaliation against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Israeli warplanes attacked targets in southern Lebanon during the day on Sunday.

However, it was expected that a stronger response could come after a security cabinet meeting convened by Netanyahu in Tel Aviv.

After the meeting, Netanyahu’s office said the cabinet had “authorized the prime minister and defense minister to decide on the manner and timing of the response.”

The White House on Sunday also blamed Hezbollah for the attack on Majdal Shams. “This attack was carried out by Lebanese Hezbollah. It was their rocket, fired from an area they control,” it said in a statement.

US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, said through her national security adviser that her “support for Israel’s security is unwavering”

The United States said Washington had been in talks with its Israeli and Lebanese counterparts since Saturday’s “horrific” attack and was working on a diplomatic solution.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington does not want a further escalation of the conflict, which has seen daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli military and Hezbollah along the border.

Britain has expressed concern about further escalation, while Egypt said the attack could escalate into a “nationwide regional war”.

Thousands of people gathered for funerals in the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, a territory seized from Syria by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed without recognition by most countries.

Members of the Druze faith, which is linked to Islam, Christianity and Judaism, make up more than half of the Golan Heights’ 40,000-strong population. Large crowds of mourners, many wearing the traditional tall, white and red Druze headdresses, surrounded the coffins as they were carried through the village.

“A grave tragedy, a dark day has come for Majdal Shams,” Dolan Abu Saleh, chairman of the Majdal Shams local council, said in comments broadcast on Israeli television.

Hezbollah initially announced that it had fired rockets at Israeli military facilities in the Golan Heights but said it had “absolutely nothing to do” with the attack on Majdal Shams.

ISRAEL SAYS THE ROCKET IS MADE BY IRAN

However, Israel said the rocket was Iranian-made and fired from an area north of the village of Chebaa in southern Lebanon, blaming the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

It was initially unclear whether the murdered children and teenagers were Israeli citizens.

“The rocket that murdered our boys and girls was an Iranian rocket, and Hezbollah is the only terrorist organization that has such a weapon in its arsenal,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Two security sources told Reuters that Hezbollah was on high alert and had cleared some key facilities in both southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley in case of an Israeli attack.

Lebanese carrier Middle East Airlines said it was delaying the arrival of some flights from Sunday evening to Monday morning, without giving a reason.

Israeli forces have been exchanging fire with Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon for months, but both sides appear to be avoiding an escalation that could lead to an all-out war, potentially drawing in other powers including the United States and Iran.

But Saturday’s attack threatened to tip the stalemate into a more dangerous phase. UN officials urged both sides to exercise maximum restraint, warning that an escalation could “engulf the entire region in a catastrophe beyond imagination.”

Lebanon has asked the United States to call on Israel to show restraint, Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told Reuters. Bou Habib said the United States had asked the Lebanese government to convey a message to Hezbollah to also show restraint.

Fear of total war

Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday warned Israel against any new adventures in Lebanon.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said it held Israel “fully responsible for this dangerous escalation in the region” and said the accusations against Hezbollah were false.

The conflict has forced tens of thousands of people in Lebanon and Israel to flee their homes. Israeli strikes have killed some 350 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and more than 100 civilians, including medics, children and journalists.

Hezbollah is the most powerful group in the network of Iranian-backed groups in the Middle East. It formed a second front against Israel shortly after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.

Druze communities live on both sides of the border between southern Lebanon and northern Israel, as well as in the Golan Heights and in Syria. While some serve in the Israeli army and identify with Israel, many feel marginalized in Israel, and some also reject Israeli citizenship.