Lebanon is on high alert after Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu promised a “harsh” response to a deadly rocket strike on the occupied Golan Heights, saying, “the state of Israel will not and cannot let this pass”.
Diplomatic efforts to avert an escalation in the exchanges of fire between the militant group Hizbullah and Israel – which have taken place almost daily since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war – were in high gear, with the United States leading the drive.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken spoke with Israeli president Yitzhak Herzog on Monday, emphasising the “importance of preventing escalation” and discussing efforts to reach a diplomatic solution to months of conflict.
White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that Israel had every right to respond to the Golan strike but that nobody wanted a broader war.
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Lebanon’s deputy parliament speaker Elias Bou Saab, who said he had been in contact with US mediator Amos Hochstein since Saturday’s Golan attack, said Israel could avert the threat of major escalation by sparing the capital, Beirut, and its environs.
“If they avoid civilians and they avoid Beirut and its suburbs, then their attack could be well calculated,” he said.
Two senior Israeli defence officials said Israel wants to hurt Hizbullah but does not want to drag the region into an all-out war, while two other officials said the country was preparing for the possibility of a few days of fighting.
The focus of the US-led diplomacy has been to constrain Israel’s response by urging it against targeting densely populated Beirut, the southern suburbs of the city that form Hizbullah’s heartland, or key infrastructure like airports and bridges, said sources.
An Israeli drone strike outside the southern Lebanese town of Shaqra on Monday killed two people and wounded three, including a child, according to the Lebanese civil defence. The rescue service did not say whether those killed were fighters or civilians.
About 300 friends, supporters and relatives of the slain children protested against a visit by Mr Netanyahu on Monday to the soccer field in Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights where Saturday’s strike took place.
They shouted that he was exploiting the bloodshed for political gain and called for an end to the violence. Some held up pictures of the children, saying they wanted no more deaths.
Western governments have called for calm and some have advised their citizens to leave Lebanon. – Guardian