On 27 July, while Druze boys were playing football in a club in the village of Majdal Shams, people in the area were unconcerned about the Israeli war on the northern front despite the fact that the village is in the Occupied Golan Heights. They considered that they were living in safety under the Israeli “Iron Dome” missile-defence system.
However, during the match a rocket fell on them, killing 11 of the boys and making this the worst civilian loss for Israel since 7 October last year. Another boy was subsequently found to have died in the strike.
Hizbullah has exchanged allegations with Israel regarding who carried out the strike, with Israel claiming that Hizbullah was responsible. Israel has not submitted any proof of this, and the Lebanese and the families of the victims themselves say it was an Israeli rocket that caused the deaths in Majdal Shams.
According to an Israel Occupation Forces (IOF) situational assessment, “the rocket launch towards Majdal Shams was carried out by the Hizbullah terrorist organisation.”
Before the catastrophic incident the Israeli army carried out heavy artillery fire on Kafr Kila, Addaiseh, Khiam and Wazzani in Southern Lebanon, which resulted in a number of deaths. Hizbullah retaliated with heavy rocket fire.
Only 20 minutes after the Majdal Shams incident, it said that “in support of the steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and their valiant and honourable resistance, and in response to the enemy’s attacks on the steadfast southern villages and safe houses, most recently in the town of Kafr Kila, the Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance [Hizbullah] targeted on Saturday 27 July the Hermon Brigade headquarters in Maale Golani Barracks with one Falaq missile.”
This is only eight km from the scene of the Majdal Shams incident.
At the same time, videos were published on X of an Iron Dome battery showing the launch of a Tamir rocket by mistake, its failure during flight, and its heading towards the ground in an uncontrolled way. The rockets are designed to explode after a period if they fail to hit a target. The videos were removed later, and it is unclear whether they are related to the fateful incident or not.
The clear conclusion is that the tragedy happened accidently as a result of the failure of one rocket, but which one – the Hizbullah rocket or the Israeli rocket?
Was it the Hizbullah Falaq-type rocket with a 50 kg fragmentation warhead that caused the deaths in Majdal Shams? Or was it the Tamir rocket of the Israeli Iron Dome with an 11 kg warhead?
These questions should be answerable by evaluating the rocket fragments, the size of the crater, and the damage done.
Israel was not satisfied with Hizbullah’s denial of responsibility. Colonel Avichay Adraee, an Israeli army spokesman, said that “despite its attempts to deny it, Hizbullah is responsible for the massacre in Majdal Shams and the killing of the boys on the soccer field.”
He cited the name of Ali Mohamed Yahya, commander of a rocket-launching site in the Chebaa area in Southern Lebanon.
The far-right in Israel has taken advantage of the tragedy to put pressure on the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the war in Lebanon.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote on X that “Lebanon as a whole has to pay the price for the deaths of the little children. [Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan] Nasrallah should pay with his head.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir wrote on X that “Satan has yet to invent an adequate revenge for the blood of a small child. I demand the Prime Minister launch a war in the north now!”
In a statement in the Israeli newspaper the Times of Israel, he said that “since October 8 I have said that we are in a state of war in the north, and the enemy needs to be defeated.” But the decision-makers have “avoided acknowledging that we are in a battle against Hizbullah for 10 months.”
Netanyahu declared that he would end his tour of the US and return to Israel to investigate the developments, raising questions about whether he will listen to US President Joe Biden’s advice not to listen to the Israeli far right.
While the Israeli government has no intention of ending the war on Gaza, expanding it to Lebanon will require convincing the Israeli population that war is the only way to achieve “decisive victory.”
It only took a few hours for the Israeli Air Force to launch strikes on Southern Lebanon, among the targets being Shabriha, Burj a-Shamali, Bekaa, Kfar Kila, Rab Al-Taltin, Al-Khyam and Tir Harfa.
In response to Israeli threats of a full-scale war in Southern Lebanon, Iran issued a statement by the Iranian Foreign Ministry. A spokesman warned against “any new adventurism” by Israel towards Lebanon.
“Any reckless action by the Zionist regime could pave the way for the expansion of the scale of instability, insecurity, and the fire of war in the region, and the regime will be held accountable for the consequences of such behaviour,” he said.
The ball is now in Israel’s court: will it escalate the situation by going on a new military adventure in Southern Lebanon, or will it conduct more air strikes and artillery shelling to assassinate more Hizbullah leaders, while at the same time shying away from major combat operations?
It appears that the Majdal Shams incident was unplanned, but even so it could have disastrous consequences for all of Lebanon and not just the south. The cost of any further escalation will be paid by civilians and more children’s lives, causing additional sorrow for parents.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 1 August, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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