Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant yesterday vowed to “hit the enemy hard” after rocket fire from Lebanon killed 12 young people in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights and again raised fears that the war in Gaza would spread.
Iran warned Israel that any new military “adventures” in Lebanon could lead to “unforeseen consequences.”
Israel’s army called it “the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians” since the attack on Oct. 7 last year that began the war in Gaza and triggered regular exchanges of fire across the Lebanese border.
Photo: Reuters
Israel blamed Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement for the rocket fire, but the Iran-backed group — which has regularly targeted Israeli military positions — said it had “no connection” to the incident.
It came hours after officials in Hamas-run Gaza said an Israeli strike on a school housing thousands of displaced Palestinians killed at least 30 people.
Israel said it was targeting “terrorists” operating from the school.
The rocket fire in Majdal Shams prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to return early from the US to convene his security Cabinet.
Israel’s military said later yesterday it hit Hezbollah targets “both deep inside Lebanese territory and in southern Lebanon.”
The rocket strike on the Druze town of Majdal Shams hit a soccer pitch and killed young people aged 10 to 20, Israel’s military said.
Gallant visited the scene early yesterday, standing with security forces beside the mangled fence and abandoned scooters.
The UN urged “maximum restraint” in a joint statement from UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and UN Interim Force in Lebanon mission and force commander Aroldo Lazaro.
Intensifying exchanges of fire “could ignite a wider conflagration that would engulf the entire region in a catastrophe beyond belief,” they said.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
A Chinese ship ran aground in stormy weather in shallow waters off a Philippines-controlled island in the disputed South China Sea, prompting Filipino forces to go on alert, Philippine military officials said yesterday. When Philippine forces assessed that the Chinese fishing vessel appeared to have run aground in the shallows east of Thitu Island (Jhongye Island, 中業島) on Saturday due to bad weather, Philippine military and coast guard personnel deployed to provide help, but later saw that the ship had been extricated, Philippine navy regional spokesperson Ellaine Rose Collado said. No other details were immediately available, including if there were injuries among
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