A flurry of Israeli raids in Lebanon overnight after yesterday's attack on Majdal Shams which left at least 12 dead, including children, and at least 40 injured. Israeli warplanes - as reported by Hezbollah TV, Al Manar - targeted the outskirts of the cities of Abbasiya and Burj al-Shamali, in the south of the country. According to the same source, Israel also launched air strikes against the cities of Khiam and Kafr Kila.
After the rocket attack on the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, many children are in serious condition in pediatric intensive care units in northern Israel. Many suffered very serious injuries, Israeli media reported. The director of the Ziv medical center in Safed, Salman Zarka, told Channel 12 TV that some of them will probably undergo other surgeries during the day after the operations carried out during the night. “It's been a long time since we've seen a group of children affected by such severe trauma,” said Danny Eitan, director of the pediatric intensive care unit at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. In the meantime, the names of 11 of the 12 victims have been released: Alma 11 years old, Millar 10, Vinis 11, Izil 12, Yazen, 12 years old, Johnny 13 years old, Amir, 16, Naji 11, Fajr 16 years old, Hazem 15 years old, Nazem 15 years old, from the village of Ein Kiniya.
«We know exactly where the rocket was launched from. We examined the remains of the rocket here on the wall of the football field and we know that it is a Falaq rocket with a fifty-three kilogram warhead. This is a Hezbollah rocket. And anyone who launches such a rocket into an urban area wants to kill civilians, wants to kill children." Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said this, according to which the IDF is increasing its readiness for "the next phase of fighting in the north". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's comment was immediate, according to which "Hezbollah will pay a high price", while an Israeli security source quoted by the media states that Israel will respond forcefully, while assuring that it does not want a war.
(Unioneonline/vf)
