by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – The Biden Administration spearheaded diplomatic efforts to prevent a full-blown regional war as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed retaliation against Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed terrorist organization in Lebanon, following a weekend rocket strike that killed at least 12 children in the Golan Heights.
Israel claimed that an Iranian rocket fired by Hezbollah slammed into a soccer field where children were playing in the predominantly Druze town of Majdal Shams. However, Hezbollah denied any involvement in the strike.
“A Falaq-1 rocket struck here in the soccer field. It is an Iranian rocket, manufactured in Iran, with a warhead containing over 50 kilograms of explosives,” Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters.
He continued, “This evening, the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon fired a rocket at children playing soccer on a soccer field in Majdal Shams in northern Israel. Hezbollah then lied to the whole world and claimed they did not carry out this attack. This is a lie.”
According to a statement from the IDF, their operational systems’ analysis determined that the rocket originated from an area north of the village of Chebaa in southern Lebanon, and reliable intelligence indicated Hezbollah’s involvement in the attack.
“From the analysis of the IDF’s operational systems, the rocket launch at the center of Majdal Shams was carried out from an area located north of the village of Chebaa in southern Lebanon,” the IDF said. “According to reliable intelligence information in the possession of the IDF, Hezbollah is behind the attack.”
During a Monday visit to Majdal Shams, Netanyahu stated, “our response will come, and it will be difficult,” though the timing of the response remains uncertain. Later that evening, senior officials noted, “In the cabinet, it was agreed that there would be an Israeli response. How Hezbollah will react is unclear, and it is impossible to know if it will lead to war.”
Washington is urgently working to prevent a full-scale war in Lebanon.
In discussions with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed the “importance of preventing escalation” and sought diplomatic solutions to end the conflict.
A Western diplomat engaged in efforts to prevent serious escalation in Lebanon told the AP that he expects the Israeli response to remain below the threshold that would trigger a full-scale war, similar to Israel’s restrained response to Iran’s extensive drone and missile barrage.
“It is clear that Israel wants to assert its stance without sparking a general confrontation,” the diplomat told AP. “There will undoubtedly be a response that could be symbolic, possibly even spectacular, but it will not escalate tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.”
Lebanon’s deputy parliament speaker Elias Bou Saab, who has been in contact with U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein since the Golan attack on Saturday, told Reuters that Israel could prevent a major escalation by avoiding strikes on Beirut and its suburbs.
More than 70,000 residents are still evacuated from their homes in northern Israel, where Israeli leaders are advocating for the creation of a safe zone to push Hezbollah away from its northern border. This safe zone the leaders claim is in line with the goals of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which concluded the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
In Lebanon, over 500 people, including 90 civilians, have been killed since the war broke out, along with 22 soldiers and 25 civilians in Israel.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
Iran’s rulers were quietly preparing for a broader and potentially prolonged Middle East war even as Tehran publicly engaged in diplomatic efforts with the United States, according to an exclusive investigation by The Wall Street Journal.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump announced Sunday that he had ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” military exercises with key regional ally South Korea, citing his “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Seoul’s refusal to assist Washington in its confrontation with Iran.
Rescue teams in eastern Indonesia recovered six more bodies Sunday following a powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake, raising the death toll to at least 53 as Christians prayed for victims and rescuers struggled to reach isolated communities.
The U.S. Department of Defense is introducing a course centered on Christianity and Western civilization this fall in the schools it operates for military families, while casting Islam as a threat to both.
New York’s Jewish community was reeling Sunday as a judge ordered a man held on bail after prosecutors said he admitted to disrupting Shabbat services at Manhattan’s Central Synagogue and assaulting two people there.
Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten faced mounting pressure Sunday after two people died in a traffic accident linked to a farmers’ protest, while his government was drawn into a separate controversy over a prominent statesman’s comparison involving Israel and Nazi Germany.
Amid mounting military cooperation, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reaffirmed deepening ties with Russia in a message to President Vladimir Putin as Pyongyang marked the anniversary of “independence from Japan’s colonial rule,” state media reported Sunday.