Lebanon on alert as Israel takes Golan attack reaction

BEIRUT: Airlines suspended flights to Lebanon on Monday as diplomatic efforts were underway to contain soaring tensions between Hezbollah and Israel after deadly rocket fire in the annexed Golan Heights.

Mourners gathered in the Golan Heights town of Majdal Shams for the funeral of 11-year-old Guevara Ibrahim, the last of 12 victims — all aged 10 to 16 — of the rocket that hit a football pitch in the Druze Arab community on Saturday.

Israel and the United States have blamed the attack on Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group, which has traded near-daily fire with Israeli forces since the start of the Gaza war in early October.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said a flurry of diplomatic activity has sought to contain the anticipated Israeli response, after Defence Minister Yoav Gallant threatened to “hit the enemy hard”.

“Israel will escalate in a limited way and Hezbollah will respond in a limited way… These are the assurances we’ve received,” Bou Habib said in an interview late Sunday with local broadcaster Al-Jadeed.