Israel attacks Hezbollah for Golan massacre, but wants ceasefire talks

Israel on Sunday attacked Hezbollah targets and threatened further retaliation for a rocket attack that killed 12 children. At the same time, Israel sent a top envoy to discuss a proposed suspension of the nine-month war in Gaza that has inflamed front lines in Lebanon and other regions.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, returning from a visit to the US in which he tried to drum up support for what he described as a confrontation between Israel and proxies of arch-enemy Iran, is scheduled to hold talks with military leaders and the security cabinet in succession, his office said.

It is the highest number of civilian casualties for Israel since Hamas-led Palestinians stormed southern villages and army bases from the Gaza Strip on October 7. On Saturday, a rocket exploded in the occupied Golan Heights, killing 12 children at a soccer match and wounding 44 others.

Israel blamed Hezbollah for the massacre in the Druze town of Majdal Shams, pointing to a model of a rocket used by the Iranian-backed militia and a launch site in southern Lebanon. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a visit to Japan that there was “every indication” the rocket came from Hezbollah.

Hezbollah denies responsibility.

Netanyahu has vowed to exact a “high price” from Hezbollah, which has been exchanging fire with Israel across the Lebanese border, in solidarity with Hamas, another Islamist group sponsored by Iran.

Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, commander of the Israel Defense Forces, was reviewing operational plans for the northern arena, his spokesman said, with regard to further action in Lebanon and possibly Syria. The IDF said earlier that its warplanes had struck several Lebanese targets overnight.

The TA-35 stock index fell 3%, the most since October, pointing to market nervousness over possible regional escalation.

Door to diplomacy

But Israel has left the door open for a Gaza truce that could eventually calm the north as well. David Barnea, director of Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence agency and the chief negotiator on the cease-fire, flew to Rome on Sunday for renewed talks, an Israeli official said. Bloomberg.

Barnea was scheduled to meet his American counterpart, CIA Director William Burns, as well as Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel. The two Arab countries have served as mediators between Israel and Hamas.

Diplomacy has stumbled over Hamas’ demand for an end to the war in Gaza, which Israel has vowed to continue until Hamas is destroyed. As the first phase of the proposed ceasefire, Israel would take back some of the 115 hostages still held by Hamas after the October 7 attack and in return release Palestinian prisoners.

Hezbollah has said it will stop attacks on Israel if fighting in Gaza stops. Yemen’s Houthis, another Iran-linked group that has launched long-range missiles and drones into Israel, have made similar demands.

A bigger war?

Israel says it cannot compromise with enemies that have sworn to its destruction and are on the West’s terrorist blacklist. But domestic pressure to free hostages is growing, and the IDF, which relies on conscripts and reservists, is fed up.

Amir Avivi, a reserve brigadier general who heads the Israel Defense and Security Forum, a militant association of former security officials, said by telephone that while Israel is preparing for a possible war in Lebanon, it will not start immediately.

“Israel will probably now attack Hezbollah’s military infrastructure, but will not start a full-scale war,” he said. “It would be a big mistake to act hastily without relevant preparation.”

As the rocket struck the Golan, Netanyahu was wrapping up a high-profile visit to Washington that included an uncompromising speech to Congress defending Israel’s war in Gaza and warning of the threat posed by Iran and its proxy militias, including Hezbollah. He also met with President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

The White House condemned the attack on Majdal Shams and said it was a priority to end attacks along the Blue Line, the U.N.-established provisional border between Israel and Lebanon.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell Fontelles said he “strongly condemns this massacre” and urged “all parties to show the utmost restraint and avoid further escalation.”

The Golan Heights were part of Syria until 1967, when Israel captured most of the territory in the Six-Day War. Israel’s annexation in the 1980s was not recognized by most countries, and Syria has demanded the territory’s return. The US recognized Israeli sovereignty over the territory under Trump’s administration in 2019.

More than 40,000 people live in the Israeli-occupied Golan, more than half of whom are Druze, an Arab group that practices a split from Islam.

Hezbollah has targeted northern Israel since the start of the Gaza war, firing more than 6,000 rockets and 300 drones at military and civilian targets. Israel has retaliated with attacks, particularly on southern Lebanon.

As of Saturday, about 20 people had been killed in Israel by Hezbollah attacks since October, most of them soldiers. More than 300 people have died in Israeli attacks in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah members.

About 80,000 people in southern Lebanon and northern Israel were forced to leave their homes.

Israel launched its war against Hamas after the October 7 attacks that killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 250 hostages in Gaza. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says the death toll in Gaza has passed 39,000. It makes no distinction between militant and civilian casualties.

Hezbollah is much stronger than Hamas was before Oct. 7, with more warplanes, missiles and drones. A war would likely be devastating for both Lebanon and Israel, officials from both countries have said. Iran warned Sunday of unspecified “consequences” from new Israeli attacks on Lebanon.