The missile that fell on the edge of a football field and killed at least 11 children and teenagers in the town of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in the north, on Saturday, struck just five metres from a shelter built to protect residents in the event of an attack. Amid the smell of burning, traces of blood remain visible on Sunday next to the blackened scooters and bicycles of the children, who had arrived on them to play a game. On the concrete wall of the shelter, in addition to the impacts of shrapnel, one can read the imprint of the NGO that delivered it: “Donated with love for the security of the people of Israel.” It was of no use in saving the lives of the victims, who were between 10 and 16 years old. There is a child, named Jivara, aged 11, who has yet to be located. The Israeli army, which blames the Lebanese militia party Hezbollah for the attack and threatens to respond “harshly to the enemy,” has launched simultaneous airstrikes against seven regions in the interior and south of Lebanon. The UN and the United States have urged Israel and Hezbollah, which denies responsibility for the attack, to restrain themselves in order to avoid an all-out war in the region.
Amid scenes of grief, several thousand people said goodbye this Sunday at a funeral through the centre of the town to the cemetery for 10 of the dead – another was buried in a neighbouring town. After a prayer, the procession left the square presided over by the statue of the Druze revolutionary and Syrian leader Sultan Al Atrash Bacha, with his sword raised in a defiant gesture. The bodies were carried on shoulders in coffins covered with white shrouds, while children carried wreaths of flowers in front.
A short while earlier, Taim Abu Saleh was running to the sports grounds with his friends Nishan Shaer and Marcel Awad. They are all 16 years old. Abu Saleh has lost his friend and classmate Amir, who is the same age. The three of them are helping to pick up the remains scattered around the area where the shell hit. A man with a thermos is handing out coffee to those present. It is Alwely Fares, 68, one of the first to arrive at the race after hearing the anti-aircraft alarm, the whistle of the missile and the impact. He estimates that he was a hundred metres away. “I called the emergency services and the first ambulance, the one we have here in Majdal Shams, arrived a few minutes later while the neighbours were trying to help,” he explains. He came across a number of bodies that he cannot specify and wounded people trying to escape the scene. Some were missing a leg.
This attack, which Israel blames on Hezbollah and which also left thirty people injured, is the worst in the border area since the war began on October 7. “Hezbollah’s attack crossed all the red lines, and the response will be appropriate. We are approaching the moment of an all-out war against Hezbollah and Lebanon,” said Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Saturday, while Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Sunday that they would “hit the enemy hard.” According to Roni Kaplan, military spokesman, the bombing of southern Lebanon last night is not considered a response to the attack on Majdal Shams and is part of the constant exchange of fire from both sides of the border. “We are analyzing what the response should be,” he said.
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For its part, Iran, which supports the Shiite militia, has warned Israel not to carry out “new adventures” in Lebanon so as not to provoke an increase in regional instability. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at an event in Tokyo: “I emphasize the right [de Israel] to defend its citizens and in our determination to ensure that they are able to do so. But we also do not want the conflict to escalate. We do not want it to spread.”
Majdal Shams is a town of Druze people located in Syrian territory occupied by Israel since 1967. Only about 20% of its 11,000 inhabitants have Israeli nationality. Without wishing to give names or excessive details, the relatives of some of the victims expressed their wish that the funerals not be politicised and demanded that there be no high-ranking representatives of the Israeli government. The ultra-nationalist Bezalel Smotrich, Minister of Finance, was shouted at by a group of neighbours when he went to visit the site of the attack surrounded by police, according to images published on social networks. Other Israeli ministers have also gone to the town, where some people have made it clear to them that they are not welcome, according to the local press.
Tamir Abu Saleh and his friends admit that they are Syrian at heart, although they do not feel mistreated by the Israeli authorities. None of the residents interviewed by Morning Express admit to having Israeli nationality, although they are sparing with words when asked to talk about politics. Alwely Fares, the resident who ran to the scene of the attack, says that since the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the village had not experienced “anything as horrible as this.” “In a war, both sides come out losers,” he adds.
“We thought that the Druze were not part of this conflict, but when the missile fell we were traumatised,” said Hatem Said, 53, whose anguish eased on Saturday afternoon when he noticed that his son and daughter were not at the football field where they often go.
The spiritual leader of the Druze, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, addressed those present at the funeral of the children: “Yesterday was a dark Saturday for the Druze and for the residents of the north. It is a Saturday that will remain in memory as a low point of humanity, the killing of children. The scenes of horror will never be erased,” the daily reported. Haaretz.
Shortly after the convoy left the cemetery, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official plane landed on its way back from his official trip to the United States. From Ben Gurion Airport, he flew straight to a meeting with his team regarding the attack on the Golan Heights.
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