The United States on Monday cautioned Israel about escalation with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah as Israel weighs its response to a rocket attack from Lebanon over the weekend that killed 12 youths in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights.
The attack increased concerns about a wider regional conflict, even as Hezbollah in a rare move denied having a role. Cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has occurred almost daily since the war with Hamas in Gaza began in October. On Monday, Israeli strikes killed two people on a motorcycle and injured three others in southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s state-run news agency said. Israeli military officials said they struck Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure.
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An official with a Lebanese group told The Associated Press that Hezbollah has started moving precision-guided missiles but doesn't want a full-blown war with Israel. Hezbollah has far superior firepower than Hamas, and analysts have said that igniting a war in Israel’s north while it’s engaged in Gaza would overburden the military.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the site of the rocket attack on Monday, saying that “our response will come, and it will be severe." But some residents of the Druze village protested by tossing his wreath aside and saying the tragedy shouldn’t be used for political purposes.
Here’s the latest:
U.S. defense leaders speak with their Israeli counterparts after rocket strike
WASHINGTON — The top two U.S. defense leaders spoke with their Israeli counterparts, working to de-escalate tensions in the region in the wake of the Majdal Shams attack, the Defense Department said Monday.
Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., spoke Sunday with Chief of the Israeli General Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said Navy Capt. Jereal Dorsey, spokesman for the Joint Staff. Dorsey said the U.S. ”is actively striving to mitigate tensions.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, offering condolences for the attack. Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said they discussed efforts to finalize the hostage deal and ceasefire, and “continued efforts toward a diplomatic solution in the north that stops all attacks and allows citizens on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border to return home safely.”
Syrian citizen killed by Israeli drone strike in Lebanon, news outlet says
A Syrian civilian was killed in an Israeli drone strike in south Lebanon Monday, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.
The 25-year-old man was with another man in a car that happened to be passing by when the strike hit a motorcycle in the area of Kfar Raman, the NNA said. It was not clear who the intended target was.
Around 500 people have been killed in Lebanon over nearly 10 months of low-level clashes between Israeli forces and the militant group Hezbollah. Most of them were fighters, but around 90 civilians have also been killed. In Israel, 22 soldiers and 24 civilians have been killed, including 12 children and teens killed over the weekend in a rocket strike in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
Israel has accused Hezbollah of carrying out the strike, while the Lebanese militant group has issued a rare denial of responsibility. Israeli officials have vowed to retaliate in Lebanon, kicking off a flurry of diplomatic efforts to limit the escalation.
U.S. urges restraint as Israel considers how to respond to rocket strike
WASHINGTON — The White House says that Israel has every right to respond to a recent strike on the Golan Heights, but is urging restraint amid boiling tensions on the Israeli-Lebanon border.
“There’s no reason, in our view, that this has to lead to some dramatic escalation,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Monday. “There’s still time and space for diplomacy.”
Kirby added that senior administration officials have been in close contact with Israeli officials since Saturday’s strike in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights killed 12 children and teens. Israel and the United States have blamed Hezbollah for the rocket attack. Hezbollah has denied having a role in the attack.
Kirby reiterated the White House position that Hezbollah is to blame for ratcheting up tensions along the Blue Line and said that Israel would speak for itself on how it would respond.
“It’s Hezbollah that started firing on Israel way back in October, and I think we need to keep that in mind,” Kirby said. “But nobody wants a broader war, and I’m confident that we’ll be able to avoid such an outcome.”
White House declines to comment on reports of Israel hardening its demands
WASHINGTON — White House national security spokesman John Kirby on Monday declined to comment on the reports of Israel hardening its demands. He said that the U.S. administration still that an agreement remains “close” to being achieved.
“There are teams at work right now trying to close these gaps, and I think it’s important that we give them the time and the space to do that in a way that, that doesn’t make it harder,” Kirby told reporters. “So again, we believe the gaps can be narrowed. We believe the details can be hashed out.”
Some airlines cancel or delay flights to Beirut amid Israel-Hezbollah tensions
NEW YORK — A small number of flights to and from Beirut’s international airport have been canceled this week as tensions between Israel and Hezbollah escalate and carriers cite security risks.
Due to “current developments in the Middle East,” the Lufthansa Group said three of its airlines — Lufthansa, Swiss and Eurowings — decided to suspend flights “up to and including” Aug. 5. Air France said it had suspended flights between Paris and Beirut for Monday and Tuesday.
In a statement, Air France said it is monitoring the situation and that "the safety of its customers and crews is its number one priority.”
Other airlines have reported delays. Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines said five flights have been delayed to arrive Tuesday morning due to “technical reasons related to the distribution of insurance risks.”
Western diplomat says Israel is expected to keep retaliation against Hezbollah within limits
BEIRUT — A Western diplomat whose country is involved in diplomatic efforts to prevent a major escalation in the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel says he anticipates Israel will keep its retaliation within boundaries that would not lead to an all-out war, similar to the exchange of strikes between Iran and Israel earlier this year after Israel struck an Iranian consular building in Syria.
“It’s clear that they (Israel) want to take a stance but without leading to a generalized conflict,” the diplomat said. “It’s sure that there will be a retaliation. It will be symbolic. It may be spectacular, but it will not be a reason for both parties to engage in a general escalation.” He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly.
Israel is weighing its response after a weekend rocket attack in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights killed 12 children and teens. Israel blamed Hezbollah, which in a rare move denied having a role.
— Abby Sewell
Israeli military detains soldiers after allegations of abuse at center
The Israeli military says it is holding nine soldiers for questioning following allegations of “substantial abuse” of a detainee at a shadowy facility where Israel has held Palestinian prisoners throughout the war in Gaza.
The military said its top legal official had launched a probe. An investigation by The Associated Press and reports by rights groups have exposed abysmal conditions at the Sde Teiman facility, the country’s largest detention center.
The military has generally denied ill-treatment of detainees. Following the accusations, Israel has said it is transferring the bulk of Palestinian detainees out of Sde Teiman and upgrading it. The detentions of soldiers prompted an outcry among members of Israel’s far-right government, who condemned the investigation as an affront to their service.
Israel has detained thousands of Palestinians since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, according to official figures, though hundreds were released after the military determined they were not affiliated with the militant group. Israeli human rights groups say the majority of detainees have passed through Sde Teiman.
Blinken urges against escalation in Israel-Hezbollah conflict in call with Herzog
WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken with Israeli President Isaac Herzog to urge that Israel and Hezbollah step back from escalating their conflict.
Israeli leaders are weighing a response to the weekend rocket attack that killed 12 young people in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. Israel blamed Iran-backed Hezbollah, which denied responsibility.
The U.S. and France for months have pushed a negotiated agreement between Hezbollah and Israel to keep the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza from spinning into a larger and more dangerous regional conflict.
The State Department says Blinken in the call with Herzog on Monday “emphasized the importance of preventing escalation of the conflict and discussed efforts to reach a diplomatic solution to allow citizens on both sides of the border between Israel and Lebanon to return home."
Blinken also underscored the United States’ commitment to Israel’s defense against Iranian-allied armed groups.
Residents of village where children were killed protest Netanyahu's visit
Some residents of the Golan Heights village where a rocket killed 12 youths over the weekend have protested the visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials expressing condolences.
Netanyahu is weighing Israel's response to the attack it blames on Hezbollah, which in a rare move has denied having a role. The prime minister laid a wreath, expressed his shock and said the local Druze community has paid a heavy price. He met with representatives of victims' families.
But after Netanyahu left the area of the soccer field where the rocket hit, some people ran there, threw away the wreath and protested the political use of the tragedy. Relatives and friends of the dead cried over photos of the children and teens that had been placed there. They said they want the war to end.
Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged cross-border fire since Oct. 8, a day after the Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza. The weekend attack in Majdal Shams again raised concerns about a wider regional war.
Israeli defense minister says Hezbollah will ‘pay a price’ for weekend attack
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has told the families of some of the 12 children and teens killed in a weekend rocket strike that Hezbollah will “pay a price” for the attack. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon has denied carrying it out.
The rocket struck a soccer field in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. It was the deadliest attack against civilians in Israel or in Israeli-controlled territory since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
During his visit, Gallant told families that “we will let actions speak for themselves.” Israel has been weighing how to respond to the strike, which increased fears that Israel and Hezbollah would move toward all-out war. The foes have exchanged cross-border fire since Oct. 8, a day after the Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza.
Hezbollah starts moving missiles amid Israel threat, an official says
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group has started moving precision-guided missiles as Israel threatens to launch an attack on Lebanon following the weekend strike that killed 12 children in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
An official with a Lebanese group told The Associated Press that Hezbollah’s stance has not changed and that the Iran-backed group does not want a full-blown war with Israel, but if war breaks out it will fight without limits.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military activities, said Hezbollah since Sunday has started moving some of its “smart precision-guided missiles” to use if needed.
Since the war in Gaza began in October, Hezbollah has fired thousands of rockets and scores of explosive drones into Israel. Israel estimates that Hezbollah has an arsenal of 150,000 rockets and missiles, including precision-guided missiles.
— Bassem Mroue in Beirut
Flurry of diplomatic activity in Lebanon ahead of expected Israeli retaliation for deadly strike
BEIRUT — Monday saw a flurry of diplomatic activity in Lebanon ahead of anticipated Israeli retaliation to a strike that killed 12 children and teenagers in a town in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights.
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has held “intensive diplomatic contacts after the recent Israeli threats against Lebanon,” including a call with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who “renewed the call on all parties to exercise restraint to prevent escalation,” Mikati’s office said in a statement.
Lammy posted on social media site X that he had called Mikati “to express my concern at escalating tension and welcomed the Government of Lebanon’s statement urging for cessation of all violence.”
“We both agreed that widening of conflict in the region is in nobody’s interest,” he said.
Also on Monday, Hezbollah’s head of foreign relations, Ammar Moussawi, met with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, according to a Lebanese diplomat and a Hezbollah official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly on the matter.
The diplomatic official said there had also been a flurry of calls by Amos Hochstein, a senior advisor to U.S. President Joe Biden who frequently handles delicate negotiations in Lebanon, attempting to ensure that the Israeli retaliation and Hezbollah’s response would not spiral into an all-out war.
Israel has accused Hezbollah of firing the rocket that hit a soccer field in the town of Majdal Shams over the weekend. Hezbollah denied responsibility, a rare move by the militant group.
—Abby Sewell
12th victim of rocket strike in Israeli-controlled Golan Heights laid to rest
MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights — Thousands of mourners laid to rest on Monday the 12th victim of a rocket strike from Lebanon that hit a soccer field in Israeli-controlled territory, an attack that risked pushing the region toward all-out war.
The body of 11-year-old Guevara Ibrahim was carried through the streets of the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights in a procession of people clad in black. Pictures of the smiling boy were hoisted up as his body, shrouded in white, was moved through the streets.
Ibrahim was one of 12 children and teens between the ages of 10 to 16 who were killed when a rocket struck a soccer field. It was the deadliest attack on Israel or Israeli-controlled territory since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.
The strike’s other victims were buried on Sunday but Ibrahim’s body was not immediately identified and he was initially considered missing, Israeli media reported.
Israel blamed Hezbollah for Saturday’s strike, but in an unusual move the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group denied involvement.
Israel is expected to retaliate and the region is bracing for the possibility of an escalation in the fighting.
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging cross-border fire since Oct. 8, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.
Officials from Egypt and Hamas say cease-fire negotiations still face hurdles
CAIRO — Officials from Egypt and Hamas said Monday that mediators negotiating a Gaza cease-fire deal were still working to iron out sticking points.
The officials, who have direct knowledge of the negotiations, said the contentious points include Israeli demands to maintain a presence in a strip of land on the Gaza-Egypt border known as the Philadelphi corridor, as well as along a highway separating Gaza’s south and north.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the sensitive talks with the media.
They said Israel refuses to leave the area between Egypt and Gaza during the cease-fire. They said Israel has linked its forces’ departure from the border corridor to installing underground sensors and an underground wall to monitor any future efforts by Hamas to build tunnels or smuggle weapons. Officials in Israel did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Israel says Hamas uses tunnels that pass under the corridor to smuggle weapons, although Egypt denies the allegation and says it destroyed many in an earlier crackdown.
Israel’s military seized control of the Philadelphi corridor in early May along with the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza when it began its invasion of Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah.
The Egyptian official said no agreement has been reached on the corridor and the reopening of Rafah, adding that direct negotiations between Egypt and Israel were continuing to find a compromise.
The Hamas official, meanwhile, rejected Israel’s demands, including its desire to maintain Israeli troops along the highway halving Gaza, which is meant to vet Palestinians returning to their homes in northern Gaza and weed out any militants.
The Hamas official said the group will hand its written response to Qatar and Egypt within the coming days.
Both officials said Hamas still wants “written guarantees” from mediators that negotiations will continue during the first phase of the cease-fire to establish a permanent truce.
CIA director William Burns, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani and Egypt’s head of intelligence Abbas Kamel met Sunday with Mossad chief David Barnea in Rome to discuss Israel’s latest demands.
—Samy Magdy
Israel weighs response to Hezbollah after a rocket from Lebanon kills 12 youths on a soccer field
TEL AVIV, Israel — The Middle East is bracing for a potential flare-up in violence after Israeli authorities said a rocket from Lebanon struck a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, killing 12 children and teens in what the military called the deadliest attack on civilians since Oct. 7.
Saturday's strike raised fears of a broader regional war between Israel and Hezbollah, which in a rare move denied it was responsible.
The White House National Security Council said it was speaking with Israeli and Lebanese counterparts and working on a diplomatic solution to “end all attacks once and for all” in the border area between Israel and Lebanon.
The Israeli military said it struck a number of targets inside Lebanon overnight into Sunday, though their intensity was similar to months of cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah. Hezbollah said it also carried out strikes. There were no immediate reports of casualties.