ANALYSIS – Will this create a new front in the terror war against Israel? Lebanon is on high alert after Israel vowed a “harsh response” to the rocket strike on Majdal Shams, a Druze town in Golan in northern Israel.
The attack killed 12 teenagers and children, and injured over 20 others, all mostly members of the Arabic Druze community in Israel. Lebanon’s Shia Hezbollah terror army said it had fired rockets in the area but denied responsibility.
On July 27, the Iran-backed and armed Hezbollah claimed to have launched two attacks on the Maale Golani barracks 2km north of Majdal Shams, including one with an Iranian-bult Falaq-1 rocket.
The IDF found Falaq-1 debris at Majdal Shams and say that up to now only Hezbollah has used this type of rocket. Claims that it was an IDF Iron Dome interceptor have been denied, as the rocket appears to have evaded detection.
Hezbollah has carried out over two thousand strikes since October 8, with caution and precision. Furthermore, the Falaq missile used against Maale Golani is one of the most sophisticated projectiles the militia possesses.
Meanwhile, American intelligence services have “no doubt that Hezbollah carried out the attack on the Golan, but they are not sure whether the group targeted this specific location or if it was a miss,” according to one source.
Hezbollah has strongly denied it was behind the attack, reportedly blaming the bloodshed on a failed Israeli interceptor missile.
Regardless, as the Institute for the Study of War notes:
Hezbollah initiated the war in the north on October 8, when it began its attack campaign targeting northern Israel. This campaign caused Israel to evacuate tens of thousands of civilians from their homes in northern Israel.[7] Hezbollah has targeted both civilian and military sites throughout the war. Hezbollah’s decision in early 2024 to transition from less-sophisticated rocket and anti-tank guided missile systems to more advanced and deadly rocket (including the Falaq-1), one-way attack drone, and anti-tank guided missile systems also increased the risk that a Hezbollah attack would cause significant Israeli casualties, either intentionally or due to a miscalculation.
In a statement on Sunday, the Israeli military Chief of Staff Lt Gen Herzi Halevi said it was “a Hezbollah rocket,” and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) knew “exactly where the rocket was launched from.”
The attack on Majdal Shams has caused outrage across Israel and the Druze community, about 110,000.
It was the deadliest cross-border incident in months of exchanges of fire between the two sides, and the deadliest attack on Israel since the October 7 Hamas terror attack last year. The attack has heightened fears that what has been relatively contained hostilities so far could spiral into all-out war.
The Druze are an ethnoreligious group of around one million people spread across Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan. Druze have a strong national loyalty to the land on which they live and have served in the IDF since 1957.
Of the 150,000 who live in Israel, around 20,000 are in the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel in 1967, where only 20% have taken Israeli citizenship with many still identifying as Syrian.
Israel’s security cabinet has authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister to decide when and how to retaliate.
Netanyahu has promised that Hezbollah, led by Hassan Nasrallah, will “pay a high price.”
Of course, Team Biden is trying to restrain Israel, not Hezbollah or Iran. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said Israel had a right to respond to Hezbollah after Saturday’s strike but emphasized that nobody “wants a broader war.”
Joe Biden’s special envoy Amos Hochstein is using diplomacy to negotiate with Lebanese leaders, and thus indirectly with Hezbollah, while Israel is putting military pressure on the group through a mix of strikes on Hezbollah forces and leaders.
“One of the exits that he is looking for would be a balanced, mutual retreat from both sides of the border by Hezbollah’s fighters and the Israeli army with U.S. guarantees and an active role for the U.N. forces.”
Still, as I wrote about earlier, a greatly expanded conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is looming, and Israeli plans are being readied for an invasion if diplomacy doesn’t work. And so far, talking has achieved very little.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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Why is American Intel giving terrorists an out saying it may have been a “Miss”. They fired the rocket. They are responsible for whatever that rocket hit. Are we to believe terrorists that chant “Death to the little satan (Israel), and death to the big satan, (America)? Terrorists that constantly lie, constantly target innocent woman and children? Israel MUST protect their citizens. Especially when their children are attacked, killed, and injured. It is the FIRST duty of a government to protect its citizens. This U.S. administration seems to have forgotten that.