Majdal
Shams is an Arabic-speaking village populated by around 25,000 residents from
the Druze community who have a Muslim background. The Golan Heights is a
territory that belongs to Syria. It was captured by the Israeli occupation
forces in 1967.
Amid
ongoing Hezbollah operations against Israeli military positions, in solidarity
with Gaza, the Lebanese resistance informed the UN that the Golan Heights
incident was the result of an Israeli interceptor hitting the soccer field.
This is not the first time Israeli missile batteries and
Iron Dome systems have missed their targets and hit Majdal Shams.
A similar incident occurred on July 10, when Tel Aviv was
quick to blame Hezbollah.
Assessments later showed technical failure with Israeli
defense systems was behind the Majdal Shams incident on July 10, despite Tel
Aviv quickly shifting the blame to Hezbollah.
The attack on Saturday on the Druze community, who also
enjoy a large presence in Lebanon, has again raised suspicions due to the
timing, the nature of the civilian target, and the size of the explosion.
It is inconsistent with ten months of daily operations by
Hezbollah that have pounded Israeli military sites, and on occasions, Israeli
settlements, in retaliation for deadly Israeli attacks on Lebanese
civilians.
Hezbollah confirmed its complete lack of involvement in the
incident, refuting all the “false claims” being spread.
Issuing
a statement Hezbollah said, “The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon categorically
denies the claims made by some enemy media and various media platforms about
targeting Majdal Shams. It confirms that the Islamic Resistance has no
connection with the incident whatsoever and unequivocally denies all false
claims in this regard.”
The residents of Majdal Shams, located a few kilometers from
Lebanon, are aware that their town, under the rules of war, was within a zone
of peace and security.
Hezbollah is also aware of this and of its wide range of
military targets.
Experts say that between the determination, sincerity and
transparency of the Lebanese resistance and the criminal history of the Israeli
occupation, only one party has a track record of lies and that is Tel
Aviv.
Furthermore, the genocidal war waged by Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and his military against the Gaza Strip, along with the
international positions, judicial or political, strongly point to the real
perpetrator.
In light of the accusations launched by Israeli officials
and media after the Majdal Shams incident, Netanyahu cut his trip to the United
States short by several hours and returned to Tel Aviv.
Israeli media said he was to chair a meeting of the small
ministerial council. Hebrew media also reported that Netanyahu held preliminary
consultations with military officials.
Lebanese Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri confirmed that
Hezbollah’s denial affirms its commitment and non-responsibility, and that
Lebanon is not responsible for what happened.
During a call with a UN Coordinator in Lebanon, Joanna
Wronecka, Berri stated that Lebanon, which has been subjected to continuous
Israeli aggression for over nine months, with the Israeli military targeting
civilians, agricultural areas, emergency crews, and media personnel with
internationally banned weapons, remains committed to Resolution 1701 and the
rules of engagement by not targeting civilians, despite these blatant Israeli
violations.
Former
Lebanese Druze Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt said, “In
light of Hezbollah’s statement denying the Islamic Resistance’s involvement in
what happened in Majdal Shams, we emphasize the warning and alert regarding
what the Israeli enemy has been working on for a long time to ignite strife and
fragment the region and its components.”
The veteran politician added, “We have previously thwarted
this project, and while it is reemerging, we are prepared alongside the
resistance and all those confronting Israeli criminality and occupation.”
Jumblatt pointed out that “the history and ongoing nature of
the Israeli enemy is full of massacres committed against civilians
relentlessly”.
He added, "The call is for everyone in Lebanon,
Palestine, and the Golan to avoid any slip or incitement within the framework
of the enemy’s destructive project, with the need to prevent the expansion of
the war and to stop the aggression and firing immediately, emphasizing the
rejection and condemnation of targeting civilians, whether in occupied
Palestine, the occupied Golan, or southern Lebanon.”
Meanwhile, the head of the Lebanese Democratic Party and
political leader of the Druze community, Talal Arslan, underscored, “What
happened is nothing but a vile and failed attempt to detach the Arab Syrian
Golan from its geographical nature and familial extensions, which has always
rejected collusion against its Syrian Arab identity.”
He said in a statement, “The Golan will not fall into the
trap of Israel’s project to feign protection of minorities, which aims only to
fragment the region into micro-states that protect its forged borders.”
He also stated that “all free people in the world and in the
Arab homeland, especially the unified national Arab Druze, are wholeheartedly
with our people in the heroic Golan. It is the depth of our honorable
resistance and an inseparable part of the occupied territories, which will only
return to its natural state through steadfastness and resistance.”
The UN special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine
Hennis-Plasschaert, and UNIFIL force commander General Aroldo
Lazaro warned that further intensification of strikes “could ignite a
wider conflagration that would engulf the entire region in a catastrophe beyond
belief”.
They urged maximum restraint from all sides, adding they
were in contact with both the Israelis and Lebanese.
Axios
cited a US official as saying that the Golan incident “could be the trigger we
have been worried about and tried to avoid for 10 months”.
Lebanon’s foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, told
Reuters that any significant attack by Israel would lead to a “regional
war”.
