A rocket strike Saturday at a soccer field killed at least 11 children and teenagers, Israeli authorities said, in the deadliest strike on an Israeli target along the country's northern border since the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began. It raised fears of a broader regional war, the AP reports. Israel blamed Hezbollah for the attack in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, but Hezbollah rushed to deny any role. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Hezbollah "will pay a heavy price for this attack, one that it has not paid so far."
The Israeli military's chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said an additional 20 people were wounded. "There is no doubt that Hezbollah has crossed all the red lines here, and the response will reflect that," Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Israeli Channel 12. "We are nearing the moment in which we face an all-out war." Hezbollah chief spokesman Mohammed Afif told the AP that the group "categorically denies carrying out an attack on Majdal Shams." It is unusual for Hezbollah to deny an attack.
Ha'il Mahmoud, a resident, said children were playing soccer when the rocket hit the field just before sunset. He said a siren was heard seconds before the rocket hit, but there was no time to take shelter. Video showed paramedics rushing stretchers off the soccer field toward waiting ambulances. Israel's military said its analysis showed that the rocket was launched from an area north of the village of Chebaa in southern Lebanon. Lebanon's government urged an "immediate cessation of hostilities on all fronts" and condemned all attacks on civilians. (More Israel stories.)
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