'In the end, we have a room without Alma': Father mourns daughter killed in rocket attack
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What we covered here
Fears grow of a wider war between Israel and Hezbollah after a rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 children. Israel blames Hezbollah for the attack, and has said the militant group will “pay the price.”
The security cabinet authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to decide on the nature and timing of the response against Hezbollah. Lebanon says it received reassurances from third countries that Israel’s response would be limited.
Hezbollah “firmly denies” it was behind the strike, the deadliest to hit Israel or Israeli-controlled territory since the October 7 Hamas attacks.
Several European countries have reiterated calls for their citizens to urgently leave Lebanon.
French president calls on Iran to "avoid regional military escalation" after attack on Golan Heights
From CNN's Niamh Kennedy in London and Pierre Bairin in Paris
French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Iran to “avoid regional military escalation” following last weekend’s deadly attack on a soccer field in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights which Israel maintains was carried out by the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Although Hezbollah has “firmly” denied masterminding the attack, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has promised to ensure that Hezbollah “pays the price,” spiking fears that a wider regional war could break out.
Macron called his Iranian counterpart, newly elected President Masoud Pezeshkian, on Monday to express his “deep concern at the rising tensions between Israel and Lebanon” among other issues, according to a readout from the Élysée Palace.
France has committed to staying in contact with all parties to “avoid a war that would have devastating consequences for the region,” the Élysée stressed.
The Lebanese government has warned Israel about the ramifications of invading Lebanon with the country’s caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib telling CNN’s Ben Wedeman Sunday that “war against Lebanon is a regional war” that would see other actors such as the Houthis and Iraqi militias get involved in fighting.
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Israeli Prime Minister’s Office denies Hamas claim it is hampering ceasefire talks
From CNN’s Benjamin Brown in Munich
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Monday hit back at Hamas accusations that changing Israeli conditions were hampering a ceasefire and hostage deal.
The PMO said that it was instead the Hamas leadership that was preventing an agreement.
But the PMO said Israel had not changed or added conditions to the proposal.
CNN has previously reported that Netanyahu had made eleventh-hour demands, including barring armed men from northern Gaza and Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor, a 14km strip of land that serves as a buffer zone on the border between Egypt and Gaza.
The PMO’s latest statements directly addressed those demands but described them as part of the “original outline.”
“Israel stands on its principles according to the original outline: Maximizing the number of living hostages, Israeli control over the Philadelphi Corridor and preventing the passage of terrorists, weapons and ammunition to the northern Gaza Strip,” it said.
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More than 200,000 people in Gaza displaced in past week amid Israeli evacuation orders: UNOCHA
From CNN's Richard Roth and Mohammed Tawfeeq
Displaced Palestinians leave the al-Bureij refugee camp and move towards the west, after the Israeli army issued a new evacuation order, in central Gaza on Sunday, July 28.
Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/AP
More than 200,000 people – nine percent of Gaza’s population – have been displaced over the past week in the wake of Israeli evacuation orders, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said Monday.
“Humanitarian partners tracking population movements in Gaza estimate that new directives issued by Israeli authorities on Saturday and Sunday affected parts of Rafah, Khan Younis and Deir al Balah where a combined 56,000 people had been sheltering,” it added.
Only around 14 percent of areas in Gaza “are not under evacuation orders,” the Commissioner-General for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said in a post on X on Sunday.
The latest round of displacement “comes at a time when water, sanitation and hygiene conditions are being further eroded in Gaza, with infectious diseases on the rise,” UNOCHA said.
“Earlier this month, the polio virus was detected in wastewater samples in Gaza. Though no cases have been recorded, it is crucial that conditions on the ground enable aid organizations to respond quickly and at scale, including by ensuring that children can receive vaccines. The World Health Organization announced last week that it is sending 1 million polio vaccines to Gaza,” UNOCHA added.
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Israel Defense chief tells his US counterpart Hezbollah will be held "responsible" for deadly Golan Heights strike
From CNN's Benjamin Brown in Munich
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, center, visits the site where a Hezbollah strike fell in Majdal Shams village on Sunday.
Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told his American counterpart Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin that Israel would hold Hezbollah responsible for Saturday’s deadly strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Gallant spoke to Austin on Monday, briefing him on the attack. He shared with Austin the evidence that Israel said indicates Hezbollah’s responsibility for the strike, according to a statement from Israel’s Government Press Office (GPO).
The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group on Saturday “firmly denied” firing projectiles into the village of Majdal Shams, where 12 children were killed and many others injured.
“Minister Gallant expressed his appreciation to Secretary Austin and the US administration for their clear stance vis-a-vis Hezbollah’s attack, and for their ongoing commitment to Israel’s security,” the GPO said.
Weapons experts told CNN the rocket that exploded on the soccer pitch in the village was likely fired by militants.
Analyzing footage of the explosion and its aftermath, experts told CNN the blast and damage seen on the site were consistent with the types of munitions fired at northern Israel and the Golan Heights from Lebanon and Syria.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday said “every indication” suggests the strike which killed 12 children in the occupied Golan Heights was a rocket fired by Hezbollah.
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US not currently planning to evacuate US citizens from Lebanon
From CNN's Michael Conte and Jennifer Hansler
The US is not currently planning to evacuate US citizens from Lebanon, even as a growing number of airlines cancel Beirut flights, according to a State Department spokesperson.
“We don’t have any plans for, or an announcement as it relates to, an evacuation or efforts for private US citizens from Lebanon,” State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told a press briefing.
Patel also said there has been no change to the staffing or security levels at the US embassy there.
“Our message to American citizens in Lebanon continues to be that they should enroll in the Smart Traveler program so that they can receive important messages about the safety conditions on the ground and other considerations and factors that they may have,” said Patel.
Patel also reiterated that the State Department has issued a Level 3 travel advisory, meaning that US citizens should “reconsider travel,” for all of Lebanon, and a “do not travel” Level 4 advisory for southern Lebanon specifically.
The US Embassy in Beirut on Monday recommended a “crisis plan of action” for US citizens in Lebanon in a new post on social media according to Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs Rena Bitter. This included an advisory to be prepared to “shelter in place for long periods of time,” as the country braces for an Israeli response to the rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights which killed at least 12 children.
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As a desperate diplomatic effort seeks to prevent war, Beirut parties on
From CNN’s Tamara Qiblawi in Beirut
At around midnight on Sunday, the CNN team in Beirut rushed to the hotel balcony after hearing what sounded like explosions. What we found instead were fireworks lighting up the night sky from a nearby rave.
Tens of thousands of Lebanon’s relatively affluent diaspora have flocked to Beirut this summer, despite daily confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel at Lebanon’s southern border, just a two-hour drive from the capital. The threat of a wider war has loomed over the summer season, normally a boon for Lebanon’s flailing economy. This year seems to be no exception, with hundreds of thousands of airport arrivals in June alone, according to Lebanese officials, ignoring the warnings of a growing chorus of countries calling on their nationals to avoid travel to the tiny eastern Mediterranean country.
The July 27 strike in the town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 children and teenagers at a soccer field sent tensions soaring. Israel blamed the attack on Hezbollah, who denied the allegations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to deliver a “severe” retaliation.
A full-throated diplomatic effort has sought to prevent an escalation, fearing that a wider war that could rope in Hezbollah’s allies beyond Lebanon’s borders, triggering unforeseen consequences. Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told CNN’s Ben Wedeman that Beirut had received “assurances” from unnamed international actors that Israel’s anticipated strike would be “limited,” falling short of triggering a wider war.
BouHabib said Lebanon was not given specifics about what a “limited response” would entail.
Hezbollah itself is in a heightened state of alert and has vacated some military positions. “The state of mobilization and preparedness, and the vacating some of the military positions here and there is a normal part of the war, especially since the escalation in Israeli threats since yesterday,” Mohammad Afif, head of Hezbollah’s media unit, told CNN.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s summer season continues apace, and it feels a world away from the death and devastation that stalks the southern part of the country, where around 100,000 people have been displaced.
Today, especially, those words resonate.
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Far-right lawmakers break into Israeli detention camp, protesting probe into soldiers’ alleged abuse of prisoner
From CNN's Rob Picheta, Tamar Michaelis and Mike Schwartz
Far-right lawmakers and protesters breached the perimeter of a controversial Israeli detention facility for Palestinians on Monday, after the Israeli military confirmed it was investigating soldiers over the alleged abuse of a prisoner.
Footage posted to social media showed chaotic scenes at the Sde Teiman base in Israel’s Negev desert, where far-right Knesset member Zvi Sukkot was filmed slipping through a fence and entering the facility as crowds gathered outside, in protest against the probe. Another video showed people crowding the perimeter of the base as guards held them back.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said earlier in a statement that its Military Police Criminal Investigation Division (MPCID) was formally looking into the “suspected substantial abuse of a detainee” at the shadowy base, where prisoners from Gaza have allegedly been held under extreme conditions.
White House says Israel has "right to respond" to Golan Heights attack, worries of broader war "exaggerated"
From Nikki Carvajal
Damage from a rocket is seen at a football field in Majdal Shams, Golan Heights, on Sunday.
Matan Golan/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
The Biden administration said Monday that Israel “has a right to respond” to the attack in the Golan Heights that killed a dozen children on Saturday – and it believed fears the attack could lead to a broader war were “exaggerated.”
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said during a call with reporters Monday that the US “absolutely condemned” the attack.
“Our hearts go out to all the families of those who lost loved ones, and certainly we’re praying for a speedy recovery for those who have been hurt.”
Kirby said the attack was conducted by the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, “despite their denials.”
“It’s their rocket,” Kirby said. “It’s launched from an area that they control.”
Kirby said the administration believed there was still time and space for a diplomatic solution and that it was in continuous discussions with its Israeli and Lebanese counterparts, continuing “to support efforts to reach a diplomatic solution.”
That solution, Kirby said, will “end these terrible attacks once and for all” and “allow Israeli and Lebanese citizens on both sides of the border to safely return to their homes.”
“Our support for Israel’s security remains ironclad, and it’s unwavering against all Iran-backed threats, including those from Hezbollah,” Kirby said. “No nation can be expected to tolerate the kind of severe threats that the Israelis face.”
Asked about fears of a broader conflict in the region, Kirby responded that at “multiple points over the last 10 months, those predictions were exaggerated.”
“Quite frankly,” he said, “we think they’re exaggerated now.”
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Iran's president-elect warns of "severe consequences" if Israel attacks Lebanon
From CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq
Iranian President-elect Masoud Pezeshkian warned Monday that any possible Israeli attack on Lebanon “could backfire and have severe consequences for the Zionists themselves,” according to semi-official news agency Mehr.
Pezeshkian’s comment came during a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron to congratulate him on his victory in Iran’s elections.
Pezeshkian will be sworn in before the Iranian parliament Tuesday, replacing late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May.
Macron and Pezeshkian also discussed “various issues and topics, including negotiations to lift anti-Iran sanctions, the war in Ukraine, and the latest situation and developments in Gaza and Lebanon,” Mehr reported.
Israel has vowed that Hezbollah will “pay the price” after blaming the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group for a rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 children on Saturday.
While Hezbollah says it “firmly denies” it was behind the strike, it has raised fears once again that all-out war could envelop the region.
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Hamas accuses Netanyahu of setting 'new conditions and demands' at Rome ceasefire talks
From CNN's Abeer Salman in Jerusalem and Jeremy Diamond in Haifa
Hamas accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday of setting “new conditions and demands” that prevented a deal being reached at the Gaza hostage and ceasefire talks in Rome this weekend.
Officials from the US, Israel, Egypt and Qatar met in the Italian capital Sunday to continue negotiations over a deal.
The parties discussed the “proposal for an agreement” and what it described as a “clarification document from Israel,” according to Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office.
In a Hamas statement, the militant group said: “It is clear from what the mediators conveyed that Netanyahu has returned to the strategy of procrastination, evasion, and avoiding reaching an agreement by setting new conditions and demands, which contradict what the mediators conveyed as an ‘Israeli’ paper, which was part of Biden’s project and later a decision by the UN Security Council.”
CNN has previously reported that Netanyahu had made 11th-hour demands, including barring armed men from northern Gaza and Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor, a 14-kilometer (8.7-mile) strip of land that serves as a buffer zone on the border between Egypt and Gaza.
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Israel’s response to the rocket attack on Majdal Shams “will be severe,” Netanyahu says
From CNN’s Michael Schwartz
The convoy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen in the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli annexed Golan Heights, on Monday.
Jalaa Marey/AFP/Getty Images
Israel’s response to the deadly rocket attack on Majdal Shams over the weekend “will be severe,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a visit to the town on Monday, according to a statement from his office.
“These children are our children, they are the children of all of us,” Netanyahu said. “The State of Israel will not and cannot put this to rest. Our response will come, and it will be severe.”
Netanyahu was accompanied by the head of Shin Bet, Ronen Bar. The two men met representatives of the bereaved families, the statement said.
More than 20,000 Druze Arabs live in the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in 1967. Many of them identify as Syrian and have rejected an offer of Israeli citizenship. None of the people killed in Saturday’s attack held Israeli citizenship, the Regional Council of Majdal Shams told CNN.
The strike was the deadliest to hit Israel or Israeli-controlled territory since the October 7 attack by Hamas.
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Western countries urge citizens to leave Lebanon
From CNN’s Benjamin Brown in Munich
The United States and several European countries have reiterated calls for their citizens to urgently leave Lebanon, as the country braces for an Israeli response to a deadly rocket attack that Israel has blamed on the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
The US Embassy of Beirut recommends a “crisis plan of action” for US citizens in Lebanon, Rena Bitter, assistant secretary for consular affairs, said in a video message posted on X Monday.
Bitter said US citizens should leave before a crisis begins, or if transportation is not available, “individuals already in Lebanon should be prepared to shelter in place for long periods of time.” She also warned against relatives coming to Lebanon “should conflict increase in the region.”
A German foreign ministry spokesperson on Monday also called on Germans still in Lebanon to urgently leave. The Belgian foreign ministry warned its citizens the security situation could deteriorate without notice and that the entire country could be affected by escalating conflict.
Other European countries, including the United Kingdom and Ireland, have said their previous warnings from late June still stand. Last month, countries around the world urged citizens to leave Lebanon amid heightened tensions and daily exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah.
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Two killed and three wounded in double drone strike in south Lebanon - state news agency
From CNN's Tamara Qiblawi in Beirut
Two people were killed and three were wounded, including a child, in a double drone strike in south Lebanon, the country’s state-owned news agency (NNA) reported Monday.
A Lebanese security source told CNN it was an Israeli drone strike.
CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment.
A drone had struck a car near Lebanon’s border with Israel, wounding two people, according to NNA. Two people on a motorcycle who drove to the vehicle to check on the wounded were killed by a second drone, NNA said.
NNA did not say whether the dead were fighters or civilians.
This comes after Israel blamed the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah for a rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 children and teenagers on Saturday, which Hezbollah denies.
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Israeli security cabinet authorizes Netanyahu and Gallant to "decide nature of response" to Golan Heights attack
From CNN's Lauren Izso
Israel’s emergency security cabinet has authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to decide on “the nature” and “timing” of the response against Hezbollah, according to a Sunday statement from the prime minister’s office.
This comes after Israel blamed the Lebanese militant group for a rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 children and teenagers on Saturday, which Hezbollah denies orchestrating.
Lebanon’s caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib has however said he received reassurances from third countries that Israel’s response to the strike will be limited, hinting that the US and France were two of those countries.
The attack was the deadliest to hit Israel or Israeli-controlled territory since the October 7 attack by Hamas. Israel vowed Hezbollah will “pay the price.”
The strike has raised fears once again that an all-out war could envelop the region. A key backer of Hezbollah, Iran has warned against “any new adventures” aimed at Lebanon, while Bou Habib said his country will not get involved in a war, but will stand behind Hezbollah.
Bou Habib also warned that other actors in the region may get involved, including in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
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86% of areas in Gaza are under Israeli evacuation orders, UN agency says
From CNN's Abeer Salman and Kareem El Damanhoury
Only 14% of Gaza is not under Israeli evacuation orders, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said Sunday.
“Almost everyone in Gaza has been impacted by these orders,” he said, adding that many Palestinians have been forced to flee on average once a month since October 7.
Human rights agencies have warned against Israeli evacuation orders issued without the promise of safety or secure accommodation for Palestinians trying to survive bombardment. Israel has previously asked Palestinians to relocate from “humanitarian zones” as it expanded its military operation or sought to uproot what it said were Hamas fighters embedded in the areas.
Lazzarini warned that the evacuation orders are creating havoc and panic as well as bringing more misery and suffering to civilians. “The people of Gaza are not pinballs or chess pieces, they are people,” he said on X.
The statement comes hours after the Israeli military issued another evacuation order for Palestinians in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.
About 200,000 Palestinians have been evacuated throughout last week, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
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Multiple international flights to Beirut canceled amid fears of Israeli military escalations
From CNN's Kareem El Damanhoury, Jennifer Deaton and Duarte Mendonça
People wait to get updated information after some flights are delayed at Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport on July 28.
Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu/Getty Images
Beirut’s international airport has announced several cancelations of flights to the Lebanese capital after Israel vowed to retaliate after a rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed at least 12 children.
The canceled flights were scheduled to depart the cities of Athens, Stockholm, Dusseldorf, Addis Ababa, Ankara, Antalya, and Adana on Monday, Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport said.
Suspensions and delays: The Lufthansa Group has decided to suspend its flights to Beirut for the rest of the month.
Passenger airlines in the Lufthansa Group include Lufthansa Airlines, SWISS, and Eurowings.
Middle East Airlines has also announced delays for flights from London, Copenhagen, Doha, Damma, Dubai and Jeddah to Beirut.
The airport also announced further delays in flights coming from Cairo and Istanbul.
Travel alert: The US State Department has issued a security alert, advising American citizens traveling to and from Lebanon to closely monitor their flights.
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Israel has vowed Hezbollah will “pay the price” after deadly rocket attack. Here's what to know
Members of the Druze minority mourn during the funeral of their relatives on July 28.
While Hezbollah says it “firmly denies” it was behind the strike, it has raised fears once again that an all-out war would envelop the region.
Here’s what you need to know:
Kids killed while playing soccer: At least 12 children were killed when a rocket hit a football pitch in Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday. At least 44 people were wounded in the attack that left the town’s Syrian Druze community in shock. A funeral procession was held in the middle of the village on Sunday. “They were just kids. What did they do wrong?” one resident told CNN.
Major escalation: The attack involved “approximately 30 projectiles” crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory, and was the deadliest to hit Israeli-controlled territory since the October 7 Hamas attacks. It was a major escalation in what had already been an extremely volatile few months in the border area between Israel and Lebanon.
Israel blames Hezbollah: Israeli officials have blamed Hezbollah for the strike and Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant pledged a heavy response. “Hezbollah is responsible for this and they will pay the price,” Gallant said. “We will hit the enemy hard,” he said in an earlier statement.
Hezbollah denies it: Hezbollah acknowledged striking the Golan Heights on Saturday, but “firmly” denied responsibility for the attack on Majdal Shams.
Weapons expert weighs in:Experts told CNN the blast and damage was consistent with the types of munitions fired at Israel and the Golan Heights from Lebanon and Syria. Weapon fragments at the scene indicated the rocket was fired by Hezbollah or another militant group, one expert said, ruling out the possibility of the blast having been caused by an Israeli interceptor missile.
Lebanon’s response: Lebanon will not get involved in a war, but will stand behind Hezbollah, the country’s foreign minister said. If Israel responded by invading Lebanon, it risked dragging the whole region into war. “It’s not going to be Hezbollah against Israel…You have the Houthis, you have the Iraqi militias, you have militias in Syria who are not Syrians: Pakistani, Afghan militias. They’re all going to get involved in that,” caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said.
Israel’s response: Lebanon has said it received reassurances from third countries that Israel’s response to the deadly strike on a town in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights will be limited. Hezbollah’s response to Israel’s escalation will also be limited, Lebanon’s foreign minister said. Asked to identify the countries that had offered reassurance, the minister hinted that the US and France were two of those countries.
Meanwhile in Gaza:
Israeli attacks continue: Israeli attacks killed at least 19 Palestinians, including children, and wounded numerous others across Gaza on Sunday. At least 10 were killed in an airstrike on a house in Khan Younis. CNN video shot at the Nasser Hospital shows several body bags at the morgue and people carrying the wounded, including children. Another airstrike hit tents in the Al-Mawasi area, which the Israeli military has designated a “humanitarian zone,” killing at least four people.
Perpetual displacement: Only 14 percent of Gaza is not under Israeli evacuation orders, the UNRWA Commissioner-General said Sunday. “Almost everyone in Gaza has been impacted by these orders,” he said. Many Palestinians have been forced to flee on average once a month since October 7, he said. On Sunday, almost 30,000 people were in the area Israel designated for evacuation in the Bureij refugee camp and Al-Shuhada street.
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“We're living like animals," displaced Palestinian father says as he evacuates Gaza's Bureij camp
From CNN's Kareem El Damanhoury and Abeer Salman
Displaced Palestinians are leaving al-Bureij refugee after the Israeli army issued a new evacuation order, in the central Gaza Strip on July 28.
Ashraf Amra/Anadolu/Getty Images
The Israeli military issued yet more evacuation orders to thousands of people in Gaza on Sunday.
In central Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp and Al-Shuhada street, about 30,000 people were affected by the evacuation order, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
A man evacuating the Bureij camp with his son on Sunday told CNN it was his 26th time being displaced since his house was destroyed a few days following October 7.
Another Gazan told CNN the Palestinians there are “living like animals” and that he has to keep going for his family.
An elderly woman using a stick to walk was also seen evacuating toward the Nuseirat camp.
On Sunday, Israeli attacks killed at least 19 Palestinians, including children, and wounded numerous others across Gaza, according to health officials and Gaza’s Civil Defense.
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Iran warns Israel against “any new adventures” aimed at Lebanon. Here's why Tehran's position matters
From CNN staff
Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, Nasser Kanaani, attends a press conference in Tehran on July 8.
Ahmet Dursun/Anadolu/Getty Images
Iran on Sunday warned Israel against “any new adventures” aimed at Lebanon following the deadly rocket strike in the town of Majdal Shams.
Israel has blamed Hezbollah for the strike which killed at least 12 children, while the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group has denied responsibility.
Some context: Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has escalated hostilities across the region and brought a longstanding shadow war with Iran out into the open.
Iran’s allies and proxies – the so-called axis of resistance – have launched attacks on Israeli forces and its allies, including US military positions, since October.
Who is Hezbollah? An Iran-backed Islamist movement with one of the most powerful paramilitary forces in the Middle East, Hezbollah is seen as Iran’s most effective non-state partner, possessing an estimated 150,000 rockets that could overwhelm Israel’s defenses if an all-out war breaks out.
For months, the international community has been trying to de-escalate tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.
The Lebanese foreign minister has warned that if Israel responded by invading Lebanon, it risked dragging the whole region into war.
