Hezbollah launched a deadly rocket attack on Israel, striking a soccer field in the northern town of Majdal Shams near the Syrian border. The attack, which occurred on Saturday, resulted in at least 10 deaths and 29 injuries, many of them children, according to initial reports. This incident marks the deadliest assault in northern Israel since Hezbollah joined forces with Hamas in the ongoing conflict that began on October 7.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service reported that the victims, aged between 10 and 20, were playing soccer when the rockets hit. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) immediately blamed Hezbollah for the attack. "According to an IDF situational assessment and the intelligence in our possession, the rocket launch toward Majdal Shams was carried out by the Hezbollah terrorist organization," the IDF stated.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is currently in the United States, was promptly informed of the attack and is reportedly planning to return to Israel as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Israel's Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of General Staff LTG Herzi Halevi conducted a situational assessment in response to the attack.
Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, controls Lebanon and has been a significant player in the ongoing conflict. Israeli Channel 12 reported that Foreign Minister Israel Katz warned of an impending all-out war against Hezbollah, stating, "We are approaching the moment of an all-out war in the north against Hezbollah, we will react in a disproportionate way."
BREAKING: THE ‘ATTACK’ ON ISRAEL WAS AN IRON DOME INTERCEPTOR MISSILE FAILURE
Some within Israeli media are claiming that it was an iron dome interceptor and not even from south Lebanon.
The interceptor was fired to stop Hezbollah’s rockets at northern occupied Golan it failed… pic.twitter.com/NUJg7X6ozP — Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) July 27, 2024
This recent surge in violence follows a pattern of escalating hostilities. Earlier this month, Yakkov Amidror, former national security adviser to Netanyahu, indicated that a full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah was increasingly likely. Jason Brodsky, an expert on Iran and its proxies, suggested that Hezbollah's attack on Majdal Shams might have been a calculated move to test Israel's response.
"Hezbollah's secretary-general [Hassan Nasrallah] has been warning in July about striking 'new targets' in Israel. This kind of strike in Majdal Shams is likely what he had in mind-especially as it is outside of major population centers like Tel Aviv, which would almost certainly trigger a decisive response, and it's a Druze town. Nasrallah might have thought Hezbollah could get away with it," Brodsky told Fox News.
Majdal Shams, a majority Druze town, has a population that has lived in the region for at least a thousand years. The Druze community, present in Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and parts of Jordan, has faced numerous challenges amid the ongoing conflict. Brodsky, who is the policy director of United Against A Nuclear Iran, warned that Hezbollah might have miscalculated the impact of this attack due to the high civilian casualties, including children.
In response to the attack, Israeli President Isaac Herzog described the incident as a "terrible and shocking disaster," vowing that "the state of Israel will firmly defend its citizens and its sovereignty." The Lebanese government also issued a statement condemning the violence and calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
This latest attack is part of a broader conflict that has seen Israel fighting two wars (1982 and 2006) against Hezbollah. Since the start of the war against Hamas, the IDF estimates that it has killed 500 terrorists in Lebanon and that approximately 5,000 projectiles have been fired into Israel.
