Israelʼs Security Cabinet has authorized the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to decide on a response to a rocket attack by the Lebanese group "Hezbollah" on the Golan Heights, which killed 12 teenagers and children.
This was reported in the office of the Israeli Prime Minister.
"The meeting of the Security Cabinet has ended. The members of the Cabinet instructed the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense to make a decision on the method and terms of response to the terrorist organization ʼHezbollahʼ," the message reads.
Netanyahu previously said that Hezbollah would pay "a high price that it has not paid so far" for this strike, without clarifying what exactly he meant.
And on July 28, the day after the attack, the Israeli army reported strikes on several Hezbollah targets both deep inside Lebanese territory and in southern Lebanon. Weapons warehouses and infrastructure facilities of the group came under attack.
At the same time, US and Middle Eastern diplomats are trying to prevent the war from expanding, the Washington Post writes.
US officials have contacted their counterparts in Israel and Lebanon and exchanged messages with Iran to try to de-escalate, media sources said. All parties have stated that they are not interested in expanding the conflict, but its probability remains high.
Hezbollah attack on the Golan Heights
The attack took place on July 27. About 30 rockets were launched from Lebanon. Israeli air defense was able to intercept some of them, but some still flew.
The village of Majdal-Shams on the Golan Heights, located in the north of Israel, came under attack. There, the rockets hit the football field, where the children were at the time. According to the latest data, 12 children and teenagers died, more than 30 were injured.
The Israeli army blamed the attack on Hezbollah, which the group denies. The US also believes that Hezbollah launched the rockets. The BBC notes that before the consequences of the attack became known, the group itself admitted to launching rockets at the Israeli base located near Mount Hermon — its southern slopes are located on the Golan Heights.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said after the attack that the moment of "total war against Hezbollah and Lebanon" was approaching.
What is Hezbollah
The Lebanese Shia military-political organization "Hezbollah" was founded in 1982 with the support of Iran and is recognized as a terrorist in many countries of the world. In October 1997, the United States recognized Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
Hezbollah and Israel have been attacking each other since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, steadily escalating attacks, raising fears of a larger confrontation. The Reuters agency, citing an American official, wrote: the United States is concerned that a full-scale war will break out on the border between Israel and Lebanon.