TEHRAN - Hezbollah has “categorically” denied what it said were “claims made by the enemy” that it had targeted an area in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

A projectile landed on a soccer field in Majdal Shams on Saturday killing 12 people, including children. 

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; a move not recognized by the international community. 

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 U.S. 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”.