U.S. intelligence indicates that Lebanon’s Hezbollah fired the missile that killed 12 children and youths in Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights on Saturday evening, according to the Associated Press.
“The Hezbollah terrorist organization is behind the rocket launch at a soccer field in Majdal Shams which caused multiple civilian casualties, including children, earlier this evening,” the IDF said on Saturday night.
IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters at a briefing, “Hezbollah has been lying and denying responsibility for the incident. Our intelligence is clear: Hezbollah is responsible for the murder of innocent children.”
On Sunday, Hagari said that forensic evidence showed the Majdal Shams rocket was an Iranian-made Falaq-1, with a 100-pound warhead, which in Lebanon is used exclusively by Hezbollah.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that all evidence pointed to Hezbollah being responsible for the attack.
“Every indication is that indeed the rocket was from Hezbollah. We stand by Israel’s right to defend its citizens from terror attacks,” the top American diplomat said in Japan.
Following the strike, the White House National Security Council said that Washington “will continue to support efforts to end these terrible attacks along the Blue Line, which must be a top priority. Our support for Israel’s security is iron-clad and unwavering against all Iranian-backed terrorist groups, including Lebanese Hezbollah.”
The Biden administration is concerned that the attack could lead to full blown war between Israel and Hezbollah, Axios reported on Saturday.
“What happened today could be the trigger we have been worried about and tried to avoid for 10 months,” a U.S. official was quoted as saying.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s advisers Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein spoke to Israeli and Lebanese officials after the attack, according to the report.
The Biden administration has rejected Jerusalem’s demand that a diplomatic deal to end the low-intensity conflict with Hezbollah be based on the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701. Adopted to end the Second Lebanon War in 2006, the resolution calls for a demilitarized zone from the U.N.-demarcated Israel-Lebanon Blue Line border to the Litani River some 18 miles to the north.
A JNS poll earlier this month found that the vast majority of Israelis believe that the safety of northern residents can only be secured by a diplomatic agreement requiring Iranian-backed Hezbollah to withdraw north of the Litani River.
Hezbollah has attacked the Jewish state’s north nearly every day since joining the war a day after Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, firing thousands of drones, rockets and anti-tank missiles at Israeli towns, killing more than 20 people and causing widespread damage.