Escalation Fears Rise as Rocket from Lebanon Hits Soccer Fielda:

Escalation Fears Rise as Rocket from Lebanon Hits Soccer Fielda

Diplomats scrambled to prevent a surge in fighting after a rocket from Lebanon killed at least 12 children and teenagers in an Israeli-controlled town, prompting Israel to retaliate with strikes across Lebanon.

Western diplomats worked urgently on Sunday to prevent an escalation along the Israel-Lebanon border following the rocket attack on Saturday, which killed at least 12 children and teenagers in the town of Majdal Shams. Israel responded early Sunday with strikes across Lebanon.

The initial Israeli response stopped short of a major escalation, but fears remained that the situation could lead to an all-out war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, facing domestic pressure for a stronger response, met with senior ministers and security officials on Sunday after cutting short a trip to the United States.

Israel blamed Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Lebanese group, for the rocket attack. However, Hezbollah denied responsibility. Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, stated that Hezbollah had organized the attack, asserting, “It was their rocket, launched from an area they control.”

U.S. diplomats were in continuous contact with the Israeli and Lebanese governments on Sunday to contain hostilities. Lebanon’s foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, said the U.S. had asked Lebanon’s government to urge Hezbollah to show restraint in response to further Israeli actions.

“We are trying to restrain Hezbollah now from retaliating to whatever the Israelis do next,” Mr. Bou Habib said in a call with The New York Times. U.S. officials did not immediately confirm this.

French officials also passed messages between Israel and Hezbollah, according to a Western official who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. France, as a former protectorate of Lebanon, maintains some influence in the region.

Both Israel and Iran issued threats. The Iranian Foreign Ministry warned Israel of “unforeseen consequences” if it escalated the conflict, while Israel’s education minister, Yoav Kisch, called for a strong response “even if it means entering into an all-out war.”

The Israeli military reported that its overnight strikes primarily targeted areas in Lebanon it had often hit before, mostly near the border with Israel or around the southern port of Tyre. It also reported one strike in the Bekaa Valley, about 60 miles north of the Israel-Lebanon border.

Lebanon’s state-run news agency reported extensive damage and casualties from the overnight Israeli strikes. It was not immediately clear if the casualties were civilians or militants.

The rocket strike on Saturday, which hit children and teenagers at a soccer field, was the deadliest assault on Israeli-controlled territory since October, when Israel and Hezbollah began exchanging missile and rocket fire.

Some Israelis want Netanyahu to authorize a full-scale ground invasion of southern Lebanon to deter similar attacks. However, others fear this could provoke a more devastating response from Hezbollah, whose arsenal is considered among the largest and most sophisticated of any nonstate actor in the region.

Israeli commanders are wary of opening another major front while the conflict in Gaza continues. After nine months of fighting with Hamas and Hezbollah, Israel’s munitions stockpiles have dwindled, raising questions about how intense a battle it could fight in Lebanon.

For now, Israeli officials say they are still open to a diplomatic resolution with Hezbollah. Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Oren Marmorstein, stated on Sunday that a full-scale war could be averted through the enforcement of a United Nations resolution from 2006, which would create a demilitarized zone in southern Lebanon.

Still, there were strong expectations on Sunday that Israel might mount a bigger response, which analysts fear could turn the low-level hostilities between Israel and militias led by Hezbollah into a more intense conflict.

Approximately 100,000 people in Lebanon and 60,000 in Israel have been displaced, with many schools and health centers closed in both countries. Over 460 people in Lebanon have been killed, most of them militants, with more than 100 civilians, including 12 children and 21 health workers. The conflict has killed 22 Israeli soldiers and 24 civilians.

Despite the violence, both sides have largely avoided attacks causing overwhelming loss of life, which would likely provoke a massive retaliation.

The scale of the bloodshed on Saturday night tests that fragile balance. “Hezbollah will pay a heavy price,” Netanyahu’s office said in an overnight statement.

U.N. officials urged Israel and Hezbollah to “exercise maximum restraint,” warning that escalation could ignite a wider conflict engulfing the entire region.

The attack on Saturday caused widespread grief in the Golan Heights, where thousands of Druse Arabs observed a day of mourning on Sunday. Shops and workplaces were closed, and thousands attended the funerals of those slain.

“This is the worst thing that has happened to the Druse in my memory,” said Diab Shams, a 21-year-old electrical engineering student. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said with tears in his eyes.

As the bus carrying mourners passed a Jewish Israeli town, scores of Jewish residents gathered beside the road, waving both Israeli and Druse flags in a gesture of solidarity.

The Golan Heights, captured by Israel from Syria during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed in 1981, remains internationally disputed territory. About 20,000 Druse Arabs live in the Golan Heights, including in Majdal Shams. Some still consider themselves Syrian, while others have taken Israeli citizenship. More than 20,000 Jewish Israelis also live in the area.