While an attack allegedly carried out by Hezbollah left 12 dead on the annexed Syrian Golan Heights and Israel promised to respond “with force”, the head of Italian diplomacy, Antonio Tajani, considered it “possible to interrupt the violence” in the Middle East, during a telephone conversation on Monday, July 29 with his Israeli and Lebanese counterparts. For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went that same day to Majdal Shams, the city hit by the attack. He promised a “severe response”. A funeral was held for the twelfth victim; all were minors.
Key information:
⇒ Hundreds of Druze attended the funeral in Majdal Shams of a boy killed by a rocket attack that Israel blames on Hezbollah
⇒ Italy calls for immediate “ceasefire”
⇒ Transavia France and Air France have announced that they are suspending their flights to Beirut
Druze gather for funeral of 12th youth killed in Golan attack
Hundreds of Druze took part in the funeral in Majdal Shams on Monday for a boy killed by a rocket attack on Saturday, which claimed the lives of 12 young people in the largely Israeli-annexed Syrian Golan Heights. Ten of them were buried Sunday in the small Druze town of about 11,000, and an 11th in the hamlet of Ein Quniya.
They were aged between 10 and 16 and were playing on a football pitch at the time of the tragedy, according to local authorities.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also visited the city on Monday. “These children are our children […]”The State of Israel will not and cannot let this go. Our response will come, and it will be severe,” Netanyahu said. The Israeli military said the rocket was fired from Lebanon by the Iran-backed Islamist movement Hezbollah. Hezbollah denied carrying out the deadly strike.
Rome believes it is “possible to interrupt the spiral of violence” in the Middle East
The head of Italian diplomacy, Antonio Tajani, considered Monday “possible to interrupt the violence” in the Middle East, during a telephone conversation with his Israeli and Lebanese counterparts, calling for “an immediate ceasefire”. “Interrupting the spiral of violence is possible and it must be done now. We must absolutely avoid a new war”, he declared to Israel Katz and Abdallah Bou Habib, according to a press release from his services, renewing “the Italian request for an immediate ceasefire and a de-escalation in the entire region”.
In a statement to local Al-Jadeed channel late Sunday evening, the head of Lebanese diplomacy assured, for his part, that the United States, France and other countries were trying to contain the escalation, without mentioning Italy. “We have received assurances […] according to which Israel will proceed to a limited escalation”, and that “Hezbollah will in turn respond in a limited manner”, said Abdallah Bou Habib.
Airlines suspend flights to Beirut
Several airlines, including Europe’s largest group, Lufthansa, as well as Air France and Transavia, announced Monday that they were suspending flights to Beirut due to fears of a military escalation between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah. Flights by the German group’s companies – Lufthansa, Eurowings and Swiss – to the Lebanese capital are “cancelled until August 5 inclusive due to current developments in the Middle East,” a company spokesperson told AFP.
For their part, Air France and Transavia France have suspended flights between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Beirut for the days of July 29 and 30, “due to the security situation at the destination,” according to a spokesperson for the Air France-KLM group. The company “is constantly monitoring the evolution of the geopolitical situation in the territories served and overflown by its aircraft in order to ensure the highest level of safety and security of flights,” he specified.