Damascus accused on Sunday Israel of “creating excuses to expand its aggression” in the region, holding it “fully” responsible for the recent escalation after the attack on the Majdal Shams area in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
A rocket strike that killed 12 teenagers and children in the Golan Heights on Saturday has added to concerns that Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah could engage in a full-scale war.
Israel's security cabinet on Sunday authorized the government to respond to the strike. Hezbollah vehemently denied any responsibility for the attack, the deadliest in Israel or Israeli-annexed territory since Hamas' Oct. 7 assault sparked the war in Gaza, which has since spread to several fronts.
In a statement on Sunday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the attack in the predominantly-Druze region.
“Our people in the occupied Syrian Golan, who for decades have rejected Israeli proposals to abandon their Syrian Arab identity, will not be fooled by the lies of the occupation and false accusations against the Lebanese national resistance that it was behind the Majdal Shams attack,” said the statement.
“That is because our people in the Syrian Golan have and still remain an authentic part of the resistance against the occupation, its policies and aggression,” it went on to say.
It stressed that Israel’s accusations that Hezbollah was behind the strike were part of attempts to escalate the situation in the region. It instead accused Israel of being behind the attack.
Earlier, the spiritual leadership of the Druze in Syria condemned the attack, calling on the international community to uncover the criminals behind it.
The perpetrators are “clear to everyone” it said in a statement without elaborating.
The statement was signed by Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajri, one of the leading Druze figures in Syria’s Sweida that has been a hub for anti-government protests.
Protestors took to the streets in Sweida to voice their solidarity with the people of Majdal Shams.
Israel occupied the Golan in 1967. Majdal Shams is home to around 12,000 people, according to 2022 figures.
Israel has offered the residents of the area the Israeli citizenship, but the majority have refused it. As of 2018, only 20 percent of the population have obtained the citizenship.
Israel does not recognize the Syrian identity of the remainder of the population. The Damascus government considers them Syrian, while the people have maintained their ties with Syria and its people.
