Tel Aviv.-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Monday that his response to the attack on the Druze town of Majdal Shams, which left 12 children dead and which Israel attributes to the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollan, “will come and will be harsh.”
During a visit to the town, located in the Golan Heights under Israeli control, very close to the border with Lebanon, the president was heckled by some of the residents, Haaretz reports.
Amid speculation over how Israel will respond to the attack, the country’s security cabinet, which brings together the military and intelligence leadership along with ministers from key portfolios, authorized Netanyahu last night to decide on a response against Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, several airlines have suspended flights to and from Beirut, and countries such as Norway, France and Belgium have asked their citizens to leave Lebanon because the situation could become even more tense.
“I say to the entire community: do not let your spirit waver. Do not lose hope in the face of harassment by the axis of Iran and Hezbollah,” Netanyahu said during his visit to the Druze enclave.
Several ministers visited the town yesterday, which is part of the Syrian territory occupied by Israel after the Six-Day War in 1967, and were reprimanded by some of the residents, who accused them of abandoning the enclave in the midst of escalating tensions in the area.
Israel has been engaged in a continuous exchange of fire with Hezbollah since October 8, following the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, the day before following the attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Israeli territory in which some 1,200 people were killed and another 200 were kidnapped.
The Lebanese Shiite group, an ally of Iran, constantly attacks positions on the other side of the divide with rockets and drones in solidarity with the Palestinian militias, and Israel responds with bombings on the group’s military targets in Lebanon and Syria.
Saturday’s attack was the deadliest on civilians on the Israeli side of the border, raising fears that the exchange of fire could escalate into an open war that could lead to a regional conflict.
Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the hit on Majdal Shams, but Israel has shown photos of shrapnel from the rocket that it says prove it is an Iranian-made Falaq-1 used by the group.
The United States has also said the projectile was fired by Hezbollah.
The crossfire on the border between Israel and Lebanon, which has been active for more than nine months, has claimed the lives of some 565 people, most of them on the Lebanese side and in the ranks of Hezbollah, which has confirmed some 350 casualties of militants and commanders, some in Syria, in addition to a hundred civilians.
In Israel, 46 people have died in the north, 22 soldiers and 24 civilians, including the 12 minors and teenagers from the attack on Saturday.Infobae.
#Benjamin #Netanyahu #Israels #response #Hezbollahs #attack #Majdal #Shams #tough
2024-07-31 16:58:58
