Official: Israel Wants to Hurt Hezbollah Without All-out War

FILED - 14 June 2024, Lebanon, Janta: A view of destroyed cars in front of a Hezbollah three-story building that was demolished in an Israeli overnight air raid in the southern Lebanese village of Janata. Photo: Marwan Naamani/dpa
FILED - 14 June 2024, Lebanon, Janta: A view of destroyed cars in front of a Hezbollah three-story building that was demolished in an Israeli overnight air raid in the southern Lebanese village of Janata. Photo: Marwan Naamani/dpa
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Official: Israel Wants to Hurt Hezbollah Without All-out War

FILED - 14 June 2024, Lebanon, Janta: A view of destroyed cars in front of a Hezbollah three-story building that was demolished in an Israeli overnight air raid in the southern Lebanese village of Janata. Photo: Marwan Naamani/dpa
FILED - 14 June 2024, Lebanon, Janta: A view of destroyed cars in front of a Hezbollah three-story building that was demolished in an Israeli overnight air raid in the southern Lebanese village of Janata. Photo: Marwan Naamani/dpa

Israel wants to hurt Hezbollah but does not want to drag the region into an all-out war, a senior Israeli defense official said, while two other officials said the country was preparing for the possibility of a few days of fighting.

The officials spoke as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened security assessments and his security cabinet late on Sunday, a day after a strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights killed 12 children and teenagers.

The country's largest newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted unnamed officials as saying the response would be "limited but significant.”

The report said options for retaliation ranged from a limited but "photogenic" attack on infrastructure including bridges, power plants and ports, to hitting Hezbollah weapons depots or targeting high-level Hezbollah commanders.



Berlin Calls on Iran and Others to Prevent Middle East Escalation 

Israeli security forces and medics transport casualties along with local residents, at a site where a reported strike from Lebanon fell in Majdal Shams village in the Israeli-annexed Golan area on July 27, 2024. (AFP)
Israeli security forces and medics transport casualties along with local residents, at a site where a reported strike from Lebanon fell in Majdal Shams village in the Israeli-annexed Golan area on July 27, 2024. (AFP)
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Berlin Calls on Iran and Others to Prevent Middle East Escalation 

Israeli security forces and medics transport casualties along with local residents, at a site where a reported strike from Lebanon fell in Majdal Shams village in the Israeli-annexed Golan area on July 27, 2024. (AFP)
Israeli security forces and medics transport casualties along with local residents, at a site where a reported strike from Lebanon fell in Majdal Shams village in the Israeli-annexed Golan area on July 27, 2024. (AFP)

The German government has called on all parties to the Middle East conflict, in particular Iran, to prevent an escalation after a rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights killed 12 children and teenagers last week, a spokesperson said on Monday.

Berlin "assumes with certainty" that the deadly attack on a football field in the Golan Heights was conducted by Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said during a regular press conference.

Recent actions by the Yemen-based Houthi militias, also backed by Iran, had also contributed significantly to instability in the region in recent weeks, he added.

The strike over the weekend has raised fears of a wider conflict in the region, where tensions have intensified due to Israel's war in Gaza, which began more than nine months ago.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has talked to several people including her Lebanese counterpart in an effort to "mitigate the situation and prevent it from escalating", the spokesperson said.

German citizens in Lebanon, of which there are estimated to be about 1,300, are "urgently advised" to leave the country while still possible, the spokesperson said.

"We are very concerned about the situation of the Germans on the ground and are preparing what needs to be prepared," he added.