US is leading efforts to contain escalation in hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel after deadly Golan Heights strike
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Lebanon is on high alert after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a “harsh” response to a deadly rocket strike on the occupied Golan Heights, saying, “the state of Israel will not and cannot let this pass”.
Two senior Israeli defence officials have told Reuters that Israel wants to hurt Hezbollah but does not want to drag the region into an all out war, while two other officials said the country was preparing for the possibility of a few days of fighting. “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.”
The US is leading a diplomatic dash to deter Israel from striking Lebanon’s capital Beirut or major civil infrastructure in response to a deadly rocket attack on the Golan Heights, five people with knowledge of the drive said according to Reuters. The focus of the high-speed diplomacy has been to constrain Israel’s response by urging it against targeting densely populated Beirut, the southern suburbs of the city that form Hezbollah’s heartland, or key infrastructure like airports and bridges, said the sources who requested anonymity to discuss confidential details that haven’t been previously reported.
An Israeli drone strike outside the southern Lebanese town of Shaqra on Monday killed two people and wounded three, including a child, according to the Lebanese civil defense. The rescue service did not say whether those killed were fighters or civilians.
About 300 friends, supporters and relatives of the slain children protested against a visit by Netanyahu on Monday to the soccer field in Majdal Shams in the Golan Hieghts where Saturday’s strike took place. They shouted that he was exploiting the bloodshed for political gain and called for an end to the violence. Some held up pictures of the children, saying they wanted no more deaths.
Western governments have called for calm and some have advised their citizens to leave Lebanon. The foreign ministry in Berlin called on the about 1,300 German nationals who were believed to be in the country to get out “as long as there is still time”. Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani discussed preventing a new war in the Middle East with his Israeli and Lebanese counterparts, Israel Katz and Bou Habib on Monday.
The Cypriot foreign minister said the country is on standby to assist in the evacuation of civilians from the Middle East if a standoff between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon escalates. “We are all hoping it won’t be necessary, but should that not happen, Cyprus will continue to operate as a safety bridge in facilitating the departure of civilians from any embattled zone in our area,” said Constantinos Kombos.
An investigation by the Israeli military into the alleged abuse of a Palestinian detainee at a notorious military detention camp for prisoners captured in Gaza has sparked protests from members of Israel’s far right. The Israeli military said on Monday the office of its advocate general ordered an inquiry “following suspected substantial abuse of a detainee” at the Sde Teiman facility, which holds Palestinian detainees, including alleged members of Hamas’s elite Nukhba forces involved in the 7 October attack. The detentions prompted outcry from a coalition of extreme-right members of parliament and their supporters who attempted to storm the military base in protest.
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