Israel wants to respond ‘strongly’ to Hezbollah at Majdal Shams, but avoids all-out war. There is the possibility of a high-intensity conflict lasting several days. The US has warned Israel that Beirut is a ‘red line’. Lebanon said it had received assurances that any Israeli attack would be ‘limited’.
The security cabinet met under the chairmanship of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and tasked Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant with deciding when and how to respond to Hezbollah after the Majdal Shams attack.
The statement on the security cabinet meeting was issued by Netanyahu’s office, but no further details were given.
According to Israel Army Radio, the Israeli army presented the government with possible scenarios for responding to Hezbollah after the Majdal Shams incident. The scenarios were said to include ‘more violent military action against Lebanon’. The Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said that ‘they want to hurt Hezbollah, but they do not want to start an all-out regional war’.
According to Axios, citing two US and Israeli officials, the Biden administration has warned Israel that if it strikes Hezbollah targets in Beirut, “the situation could spiral out of control”.
According to the report, US and Israeli officials agree that an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah would cause great destruction on both sides and could lead to a regional war.
Israeli officials said that the Israeli security cabinet and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) want a much stronger response to Hezbollah than has been taken so far, but that they also want to avoid an all-out war. Officials said the IDF believes a strong Israeli response would lead to a high-intensity conflict with Hezbollah lasting several days that would be difficult to contain. It is clear that both sides will go a step further than they have gone so far, but it is not clear that they can avoid falling into the abyss,’ said an Israeli official.
Red line: Beirut
The Israeli official also reported that Amos Hochstein, senior adviser to President Biden, met with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday and told him that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hezbollah, but that it must avoid all-out escalation and minimise civilian casualties. The Israeli official said Hochstein expressed concern that if the IDF attacked Beirut, Hezbollah would respond with long-range rockets, leading to further escalation.
We certainly think that an Israeli strike on Beirut is a potential red line for Hizbullah,’ the US official said.
On the other hand, Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Buhabib told a local television station that he had received assurances from relevant countries that any Israeli attack on his country would be ‘limited’ and that Hezbollah’s response would be similarly limited.
What happened?
It was reported that 12 people, including children, were killed and 35 injured, 17 of them seriously, when a rocket hit the football pitch in the town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The Israeli army said the rocket was fired from north of the town of Shebaa in southern Lebanon, ‘as a result of the information they had and the assessment they made’, and announced that Lebanese Hezbollah was responsible.
Lebanese Hezbollah, on the other hand, denied allegations that it had carried out the Majdal Shams attack, saying it had ‘no connection with the incident’.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also issued a statement on the attack, saying: ‘Israel will not take any notice of this deadly attack. Hezbollah will pay a heavy price that it has not paid before.
