Britain and France "condemn" attack on Golan Heights; Israel announces retaliation

 

Britain and France "condemn" attack on Golan Heights; Israel announces retaliation

German Foreign Minister Annalena Barbock also condemned the "regrettable" rocket attack on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights that killed 12 people and called for a "calm response".

Britain on Sunday condemned the rocket attack that killed 12 people on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, saying it was "deeply concerned about the risk of further escalation and destabilization".

French Foreign Ministry also condemned Sunday's rocket attack and called on the parties to the conflict to avoid escalation.

"France strongly condemns the particularly deadly attack on the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights," the ministry said, calling for "all measures to be taken to avoid a new military escalation."

Furthermore, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baabock on Sunday condemned the "regrettable" rocket attack on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights that killed 12 people and called for "calmness" among her citizens.

"These despicable attacks must stop immediately. It is important to remain calm. Too many people have already died in this conflict," Baabock wrote on X, referring to the Gaza war that could spread to Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant vowed on Sunday to "hit our enemies hard" after a rocket attack from Lebanon killed 12 young people in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, renewing fears that the war could spread to Gaza.

Iran warned Israel that any new military "adventure" in Lebanon could have "unforeseen consequences". Western countries including France and Germany condemned the attack and called for calm.

The European Union called for an independent investigation into the incident.

The Israeli military called the incident "the worst attack against Israeli civilians" since the October 7 attack that sparked the Gaza war and sparked regular gun battles across the Lebanese border.

Israel blamed Lebanon's Hezbollah movement for firing Iranian Falak-1 missiles, but the Iranian-backed group, which regularly attacks Israeli military sites, said it had "nothing to do" with the incident.

However, such rockets were reportedly fired at Israeli military targets in the Golan Heights on Saturday.

The rocket fire in Majdal Shams, a town populated by Arabic-speaking Druze sectarians, prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to return home early from the United States. His office said he attended a security cabinet meeting soon after his arrival.

He called the attack "a heavy price for which Hezbollah will pay," a "price it has never paid before."

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Hezbollah had "crossed a red line that should never have been crossed."

A Tearful Farewell

The Israeli military said late Sunday that it had struck Hezbollah targets "both deep inside Lebanese territory and in southern Lebanon."

An Israeli drone fired two missiles at the village of Talaiya in eastern Lebanon, destroying a hangar and a home without causing any casualties, a Lebanese security source told AFP.

Hezbollah said the cross-border shelling was an act of support for Palestinian Islamist Hamas, which has been fighting Israeli forces in Gaza since attacking southern Israel on October 7.

The attack killed 1,197 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Militants also took 251 hostages, 111 of whom remain in Gaza, including 39 who the army said were killed.

At least 39,324 people have been killed in Israel's retaliatory military operations in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-controlled area's Health Ministry, which has not provided any information on the number of civilians or militants killed.

A rocket attack in Majdal Shams hit a soccer field, killing young people aged between 10 and 16, local authorities said. An 11-year-old boy remains missing, Israeli police said. Thousands of residents from a Shiite sect of Islam took to the city's streets in tearful vigils to mourn the many who died.

'Massacre'

Early Sunday, Gallant visited the scene, where buildings had been riddled with shrapnel.

The positions attacked by Hezbollah were about 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) from the city, "within the margin of error" of the inaccurate missiles, according to Riyad Khafaji, director of the Institute for Middle East and Gulf Military Analyses.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday there were "all indications" that Hezbollah was behind the rocket attack.

European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell condemned the "bloodbath" and also said there needed to be an "independent international investigation into this unacceptable incident".

The rocket attack on Majdal Shams came after an Israeli airstrike killed four Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon, and the militant group announced a spate of retaliatory rocket attacks on the Golan Heights and northern Israel.

The Lebanese government called for an "immediate cessation of hostilities on all fronts".

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said: "Any mindless action by the Zionist regime could lead to regional instability, deterioration of security and escalation of war."

The Israeli Foreign Ministry described the Majdal Shams incident as a "massacre" and accused Hezbollah of targeting civilians.

Many of the town's Druze residents have not accepted Israeli citizenship since Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967.

Syria condemned Israel's "false accusations" against Hezbollah and said Israel was looking for "a pretext to expand its aggression".

Violence has killed at least 527 people in Lebanon since October, according to an AFP tally. Most of the dead were combatants, but at least 104 civilians were among the casualties.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said his move would stop cross-border attacks if a ceasefire was established in Gaza.

Blinken said the best way to prevent an escalation of the Gaza conflict was to "achieve the ceasefire in Gaza that we are working hard to achieve."

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