Israeli Army Raises Readiness for War With Hezbollah as Druze Prepare to Bury Dead

Jerusalem, 28 July, 2024 (TPS) -- The Israeli military raised its level of readiness for war in Lebanon as the Druze community prepared to bury its dead on Sunday following a Hezbollah rocket strike on a soccer field in Majdal Shams.

“We are greatly increasing our readiness for the next stage of fighting in the north, as we are simultaneously fighting in Gaza. We know how to attack even very far from the State of Israel. There will be more challenges, we will raise our readiness,” said Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi on Sunday morning in a video statement from Majdal Shams.

“We know exactly where the rocket was launched from. We examined here on the wall of the soccer field the remains of the rocket, and we know to say that it is a Falaq rocket with a fifty-three-kilogram warhead. This is a Hezbollah rocket. And whoever fires such a rocket into an urban area wants to kill civilians, wants to kill children,” Halevi said.

On Saturday night, the Israeli Air Force struck a series of Hezbollah facilities both deep inside Lebanese territory and in southern Lebanon, including in the areas of Chabriha, Borj El Chmali, and Beqaa, Kfarkela, Rab El Thalathine, Khiam, and Tayr Harfa.

The names of 11 of the 12 children killed in the attack were identified as Milad Muadad Alsha’ar, 10; Alma Ayman Fakher Eldin, 11; Vinees Adham Alsafadi, 11; Naji Taher Alhalabi, 11; Iseel Nasha’at Ayoub, 12; Yazan Nayeif Abu Saleh, 12; Johnny Wadeea Ibrahim, 13; Hazem Akram Abu Saleh, 15; Ameer Rabeea Abu Saleh, 16; Fajer Laith Abu Saleh, 16; and Nathem Fakher Saeb, 16. Funerals are due to take place on Sunday morning in Majdal Shams and the nearby Druze village of Ein Qiniyye.

The Ziv Medical Center in Safed said it received 39 victims, of whom 20 are still hospitalized and three were transferred to the Rambam Hospital in Haifa while sedated and ventilated. One was declared dead on arrival at Ziv while the remaining 15 were treated and released.

The deadly attack came hours after an Israeli airstrike destroyed a Hezbollah arms depot in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila. Three Hezbollah operatives were killed in the strike.

Hezbollah initially claimed responsibility twice for firing rockets at an army base on the nearby Mount Hermon, a few hundred meters away from Majdal Shams. But the Iran-backed terror organization backed off the claim as the casualty count mounted, claiming that the children were killed by an Israeli Iron Dome interceptor.

But the IDF said it determined that the rocket was an Iranian-made Falaq rocket launched from a location north of the village of Chebaa in southern Lebanon. According to the IDF, warning sirens sounded, but there wasn’t enough time to take cover. The military is investigating why the rocket was not intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system.

Israel’s Druze community of 152,000 trace their ancestry back to the Biblical figure Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses. Israeli Druze serve in senior positions in public and military life, and the bond between Jewish and Druze soldiers is referred to as the “covenant of blood.” The Druze speak Arabic but are not Muslim and are very secretive about their religious beliefs.

Matan Davidian of “Fighting for the North,” which advocates for the nearly 80,000 Israelis forced to evacuate their homes in northern Israel told TPS-IL, “We heard the Prime Minister in Congress say that there is also ‘another way,’ and we say that the blood of our children is not worthless! We call for immediate military action and not to settle for a feeble response.”

The Alma Research and Education Center told TPS-IL on Thursday that Hezbollah rocket barrages on northern Israel are expanding in range, reaching deeper into Israel to unevacuated communities.

Hezbollah leaders have said they will continue the attacks to prevent Israelis from returning to their homes. The attacks have killed 23 civilians and 18 soldiers.

Israeli officials have been calling for Hezbollah to be disarmed and removed from southern Lebanon in accordance with UN Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War.