On July 28 (local time), the Israeli national security cabinet authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to decide on the "method and timing" to respond to the rocket attack on Israel's Golan Heights, which killed 12 teenagers and children.

Accordingly, Israel and the US accused the attack on the Golan Heights of being carried out by Lebanon's Hezbollah force.

Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack on Majdal Shams on July 27. It was the deadliest attack in Israel since October 7, 2023, after a Hamas attack in southern Gaza, and led to a war that threatens to spread across the region.

Israel has vowed to respond to Hezbollah in Lebanon and carried out airstrikes on several targets in Lebanon on July 28. However, many expect a stronger response from Israel after a cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv chaired by Netanyahu.

The Israeli prime minister's office said the cabinet had "authorized the prime minister and the defense minister to decide on the method and timing of the response."

On the same day, the White House also accused Hezbollah of carrying out the attack on the village of Majdal Shams, affirming: "This attack was carried out by Lebanon's Hezbollah. The missile belongs to this organization and was launched from an area controlled by this organization."

US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, through her national security adviser, affirmed that the US will "continue to strongly support Israel's security".

The US government said it had been in discussions with the Israeli and Lebanese governments since the "horrific" attack on July 27 and was seeking a diplomatic solution. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington did not want to escalate the conflict in the region.

The British government has expressed concern about the potential for an escalation of the conflict, while the Egyptian government has warned that the attack could lead to an all-out war in the region.

At the scene of the attack, thousands gathered for a funeral in the Israeli village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights - an area that Israel captured from Syria and annexed after the 1967 Middle East war, but which most countries around the world do not recognize.

Hezbollah initially claimed responsibility for the rocket attack on Israeli military bases in the Golan, but later said it had "absolutely no involvement" in the attack on the village of Majdal Shams.

Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad.

Israel: Missiles Made in Iran

Israel said the missile used in the attack was Iranian-made and was launched from an area north of the village of Chebaa in southern Lebanon. Israel blamed the Iran-backed Hezbollah group for the attack.

It is not yet clear whether the teenagers and children killed in the attack were Israeli citizens.

"The missiles that killed our boys and girls were Iranian-made, and Hezbollah is the only terrorist organization that possesses such missiles in its arsenal," the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.

Hezbollah has gone on high alert and withdrawn from two key bases in the southern and eastern Bekaa Valley in Lebanon in case of an Israeli attack, two security sources said.

Lebanon's Middle East Airlines announced that it will suspend some flights from the evening of July 28 to the morning of July 29.

Israeli forces have been exchanging fire with Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon for months, but both sides have avoided escalating into all-out war that could draw other powers such as the United States and Iran into the conflict.

The July 27 attack threatened to break the stalemate and push the situation into a more dangerous phase. UN officials urged restraint from both sides, warning that an escalation could “plunge the entire region into an unimaginable catastrophe.”

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said the Lebanese government had asked the United States to urge Israel to exercise restraint. Bou Habib said the United States had also asked Lebanon to send a message to Hezbollah asking it to exercise restraint.

Fear of total war

On July 28, Iran's Foreign Ministry warned Israel against new adventures in Lebanon. Syria's Foreign Ministry said Israel was "responsible for the dangerous escalation in the region" and that Israel's accusations against Hezbollah were untrue.

The conflict could force tens of thousands of people to flee in Lebanon and Israel. Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 350 Hezbollah fighters and left more than 100 civilians dead, including medical workers, children and journalists.

Nguyen Quang Minh (according to Reuters)