US in ‘continuing talks’ with Israel, Lebanon after missile attack

The United States said on Sunday it was in “continuing talks” with Israel and Lebanon after Israel and the United States accused Hezbollah of a rocket attack on a soccer field in the Golan Heights a day earlier. killed at least 12 children and teenagerswhich has raised fears of a wider conflict in the region.

U.S. National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement Sunday that the rocket was a Hezbollah rocket and “was launched from an area they control.” Hezbollah has denied responsibility.

The Israeli military has confirmed it carried out airstrikes against Hezbollah targets “deep in Lebanese territory.”

The airstrikes were apparently in retaliation for Saturday’s rocket attack, which Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said was the deadliest attack on Israel since the Oct. 7 attack. Hagari said 20 other people were wounded.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, traveling in Japan, told reporters on Sunday that “all indications are that the rockets did indeed come from or originate from Hezbollah.”

Saturday’s attack has raised fears that the conflict between Israel and Hamas will lead to a wider regional war. A U.S. official told CBS News that Saturday was a busy day of “near-total war” between Israel and Hezbollah.

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met separately with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, and visited the Republican Party candidateformer President Donald Trump, at Mar-a-Lago. White House officials feared a “nightmare scenario” of an errant rocket or missile that would cause unintended consequences, such as mass casualties, and force a stronger Israeli response.

Biden White House officials have made calls to try to soften and contain the response. But U.S. officials have stressed that Israel has the “right to defend itself” and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Sunday that on “Face the Nation”but added that “I don’t think anyone wants a wider war. So I hope that steps will be taken to de-escalate it.”

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, he said on the program “Face the Nation”“on Sunday he said he was worried that Hezbollah and its allies would “decide for nuclear weapons” if the conflict escalated.

“I’m very concerned that not only could you open a second front, but you could use the three or four months before our election to rush to nuclear weapons,” Graham said. “And we have to warn them that’s impossible.”

Thousands of people from the Druze community gathered in Majdal Shams to attend the funerals of those killed, according to the Times of Israel. Mourners shouted at government officials at the funerals, the Times of Israel reported, with one man shouting “get him out of here” at far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

“There is no doubt that Hezbollah has crossed all the red lines here and the response will reflect that,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Israel’s Channel 12. “We are approaching the point where we will face all-out war.”

Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif told The Associated Press that the group “categorically denies carrying out the attack” on the town of Majdal Shams. It is unusual for Hezbollah to deny an attack.

Netanyahu’s office, who was visiting the United States, said he would shorten his trip by several hours, without saying when he would return. It said he would convene a security cabinet upon arrival.

Far-right members of Netanyahu’s government have called for a harsh response against Hezbollah. But an all-out war against a militant group with far greater firepower than Hamas would be a challenge for the Israeli military after nearly 10 months of fighting in Gaza.

Footage broadcast on Israel’s Channel 12 showed a large explosion in a valley in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed in 1981. Some Druze hold Israeli citizenship. Many still sympathize with Syria and reject Israeli annexation, but their ties to Israeli society have grown over the years.

The footage shows paramedics quickly carrying the stretcher from the football field towards waiting ambulances.

Ha’il Mahmoud, a resident, told Channel 12 that children were playing soccer when the rocket hit the field. He said a siren was heard seconds before the rocket hit, but there was no time to take shelter.

Jihan Sfadi, the headmaster of the primary school, told Channel 12 that five students were among the dead: “The situation here is very difficult. Parents are crying, people are shouting outside. No one can digest what happened.”

The Israeli military said analysis showed the rocket was fired from an area north of the village of Chebaa in southern Lebanon.

The attack on the soccer field, just before sunset, followed earlier cross-border violence on Saturday, when Hezbollah said three of its fighters were killed, without saying where. The Israeli military said its air force attacked a Hezbollah weapons depot in the border village of Kfar Kila, adding that the fighters were inside at the time.

Hezbollah said its fighters carried out 10 separate attacks using rockets and explosive drones on Israeli military posts, the latest of which targeted the Haramoun Brigade army headquarters in Maaleh Golani with Katyusha rockets. In a separate statement, Hezbollah said it hit the same military post with a short-range Falaq rocket. It said the attacks were in response to Israeli airstrikes on villages in southern Lebanon.

U.S. intelligence officials have no doubt that Hezbollah carried out the attack on the Golan Heights, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly. But it is unclear whether the fighters were deliberately targeting the target or made a mistake.

The White House National Security Council said in a statement that the U.S. “will continue to support efforts to end these horrific attacks along the Blue Line, which must be a top priority. Our support for Israel’s security is ironclad and unwavering against all Iranian-backed terrorist groups, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.”

The Lebanese government, in a statement that did not mention Majdal Shams, called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities on all fronts” and condemned all attacks on civilians.

Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire since Oct. 8, the day after Hamas fighters entered southern Israel. In recent weeks, exchanges of fire along the Lebanese-Israeli border have intensified, with Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah missile and drone attacks striking deeper and farther from the border.

Majdal Shams was not among the border communities ordered to evacuate as tensions rose, the Israeli military said, without giving a reason. The town does not lie directly on the border with Lebanon.

Officials from countries including the United States and France have visited Lebanon to try to ease tensions, but have failed to make progress. Hezbollah has refused to stop shelling while Israel’s offensive in Gaza continues. Israel and Hezbollah fought an inconclusive war in 2006.

Saturday’s violence comes as Israel and Hamas consider a proposed ceasefire that would end the nearly 10-month war in Gaza and free some 110 hostages who remain captive there. A Hamas attack on Oct. 7 killed some 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage.

According to local health authorities, more than 39,000 people have died in the Israeli offensive.

Since early October, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have killed more than 450 people, mostly Hezbollah members but also about 90 civilians and non-combatants. On the Israeli side, 45 people have been killed, including at least 21 soldiers.

Margaret Brennan and Eleanor Watson assisted in the preparation of this report.