Maayan Lubell, Maya Gebelly – Reuters July 29, 2024
- Our response will… be harsh,’ Netanyahu says
- Israel not seeking all-out war, Israeli officials say
- Iran’s president warns Israel against attacking Lebanon
- Blinken emphasises importance of preventing escalation
- Rocket struck football field on Saturday, killing 12
Hezbollah missiles strike radar domes at Meron air control base in northern Israel
JERUSALEM/BEIRUT, July 29 (Reuters) – Israel wants to hurt Hezbollah but not drag the Middle East into all-out war, two Israeli officials said on Monday, as Lebanon braced for retaliation after a rocket strike that killed 12 children and teenagers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Two other Israeli officials said Israel was preparing for the possibility of a few days of fighting following Saturday’s rocket strike at a sports field in a Druze town that it blamed on the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah.
Hezbollah has denied any connection with the incident.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said any Israeli attack on Lebanon would have “serious consequences” for Israel, Iranian state media quoted him on Monday as telling French President Emmanuel Macron in a phone call. Pezeshkian did not elaborate.
All four Israeli officials, who included a senior defence official and a diplomatic source, spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity and gave no further information about Israel’s plans for retaliation.
“The estimation is that the response will not lead to an all-out war,” said the diplomatic source. “That would not be in our interest at this point.”
In a statement issued by his office on Monday after he visited Majdal Shams, the site of Saturday’s attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “The state of Israel will not and cannot let this pass. Our response will come and it will be harsh.”
Both Israel and heavily armed Hezbollah have appeared at pains to avoid a full-scale war since they began trading blows in October.
But Saturday’s incident has increased concerns that the months of cross-border hostilities could spiral into a broader, more destructive war.
An Israeli drone strike killed two Hezbollah fighters in south Lebanon on Monday as well as three other people including an infant, sources said. They were the first fatalities in Lebanon since Saturday’s incident.
The Israeli military said its air defences downed a drone that crossed from Lebanon into the Western Galilee area on Monday.
‘LIMITED’ RESPONSE FLAGGED
Israel’s security cabinet has authorised Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant to decide on the manner and timing of a response to Saturday’s strike.
Gallant reaffirmed, in comments to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday, that “Iranian proxy Hezbollah” would be held responsible for the rocket strike.
Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper quoted unidentified officials as saying the response would be “limited but significant”.
The report said options ranged from a limited attack on infrastructure, including bridges, power plants and ports, to hitting Hezbollah arms depots or targeting Hezbollah commanders.
Exacerbated by the Gaza conflict, hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah have been their worst since they went to war in 2006.
Hezbollah, an ally of Palestinian militant group Hamas, has said its attacks on Israel have aimed to support the Palestinians and indicated it will only cease fire when Israel’s offensive on Gaza stops.
The conflict at the Israel-Lebanon border has forced tens of thousands of people to leave their homes on both sides.
While Washington has also blamed Hezbollah for the rocket strike and defended Israel’s right to respond, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a phone call with Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday, emphasised the importance of preventing escalation of the conflict, the U.S. State Department said.
They discussed efforts to reach a diplomatic solution to allow displaced people to return home.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby also said the Golan incident should not affect ongoing negotiations on a ceasefire and release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
The U.N. peacekeeping mission in south Lebanon said it had intensified contacts with Israel and Lebanese authorities to dial down tensions. “Nobody wants to start a wider conflict, but a miscalculation could trigger one. There is still space for a diplomatic solution,” spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said.
Flights at Beirut’s international airport have been cancelled or delayed. Jordan’s flag carrier Royal Jordanian has suspended flights to Beirut on Monday and Tuesday, Jordanian TV reported, citing a statement from the airline.
Hezbollah has denied firing the rocket that killed the youngsters. It said on Saturday it had fired a missile against a military target on the Golan.
Israel seized the border region from Syria after the 1967 war and has since annexed it in a move not generally recognised internationally, although the U.S. considers it part of Israel.
Since October, Israeli srikes have killed around 350 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and more than 100 civilians, according to security and medical sources and a Reuters tally of Hezbollah death notifications.
Israel says 23 civilians and at least 17 soldiers have been killed in Hezbollah attacks since October.
Anarchy is breaking out in Israel. Mobs which include members of the government have stormed two army bases, one in which nine IDF soldiers were taken for questioning over allegations of abuse towards a Palestinian. Some in the crowd say they will not permit their IDF brothers in arms to be held accountable, with one man claiming it’s all about the government “trying to look good” for The Hague.
Israel is tearing apart. Good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2ba7zIX78s
all out war lasts only 10 minutes for israel
+ his neighbours . NUKLEAR !
Hoax Hezbollah attack, similar to the hoax Hamas attack on Oct 7. Its all prearranged & coordinated between the Jews & Donmeh, as they progress the geopolitical global goals of Israel towards their ‘end of days’, ‘Revelation of St. John’ & WWIII scenario.
what they don’t tell you is that Lebanon-Hezbollah are directed by Donmeh. They’re all in on it.
YET ANOTHER LONDON BLACK GANG KILLING
how many more ? knife-wielding murderer who stabbed a man to death in a broad daylight attack outside a north London cafe faces jail over the killing. Ibrahim Elkadmiri, 31, repeatedly stabbed victim Yahye Ahmed, 23, in an altercation outside a cafe on Holloway’s Axminster Road around midday on August 30 last year, with police saying the exact motive for the fight remained unclear.Woolwich Crown Court heard how the victim had been with friends as he saw Elkadmiri walk past, when he armed himself with a baseball bat and followed him down the street. Eldemire then produced a large knife from his waistband and stabbed Yahye five times.He fled the scene where Yahye was left dying on foot, chucking the baseball bat into a nearby wheelie bin.Yahye’s friends, who had been running toward the confrontation, stopped abruptly when they saw Elkadmiri holding the knife and all left the scene. Police then discovered that Elkadmiri had made multiple calls to his accomplice, Ahmed Ahmed, who arranged to pick him up after the killing in his BMW in Tottenham’s Hermitage Road. Ahmed then left Elkadmiri at a friend’s address to lie low and purchased a grey tracksuit from a shop in Wood Green for him to wear in place o the clothes he was in during the killing. Elkadmiri was later seen on CCTV disposing of a carrier bag containing the bloody clothes he had been wearing while carrying out the murder. Met Detective Sergeant Devan Taylor said: “Despite an extensive investigation, we may never know what the dispute was between the victim and Elkadmiri, but we do know that the confrontation was violent in the extreme and ended a young man’s life. “DS Taylor said Elkadmiri, with the support of Ahmed, had attempted to do everything he could to get away with the murder.
SOUTHPORT
the outcry over the stabbings and deaths of those little children is palpable
but the government ships weapons and torture equipment to israel where mums and children are targete and shot daily thousands of children have been murdered by israel
our government cannot separate southport form palestine
and it must stop the support of israeli terrorism
paul johnston is right our government has sent trops to help israel and bombs targets for them
this treachury runs counter to what the people want, they wanta free palestine
free of israeli terorism
the blame for southport lies at the feet of who brought these people here and who supports israeli terror
your governments labour and tory