The Middle East is bracing for a new all-out war between Lebanon and Israel after the bombing of a football field in the Golan Heights killed 12 children. The latest sign of growing fears of a fresh conflict, while the war in Gaza continues to rage, was marked by Lebanese airlines starting to cancel flights out of Beirut.
Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed military group in Lebanon that has been increasingly ramping up the scale of its attacks against northern Israel since October 7, denied any involvement in the killing of the youngsters on Saturday. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said “every indication” showed the rocket came from the group.
Following the deadly strike, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hezbollah “will pay a heavy price for this attack, one that it has not paid so far”. On Sunday, the country’s security cabinet authorised the Israeli government to respond to the strike.
The cross-border fighting between Hezbollah militants and IDF soldiers didn’t stop over the weekend. Israeli jets struck southern Lebanon between Saturday and Sunday night, while the IDF said on Monday morning its aerial defence system had intercepted a drone from Lebanon.
An update by the IDF shared on social media read: “Following the sirens that sounded in the areas of Admit and Ya’ara, the IDF Aerial Defense System successfully intercepted a UAV that crossed from Lebanon toward the area of the Western Galilee. Rocket and missile sirens were sounded following the possibility of falling shrapnel from the interception.”
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