Israel launches retaliatory strikes in southern Lebanon after Golan Heights attack

Israeli fighter jets struck at least 5 towns and villages in southern Lebanon after Israeli officials blamed the Lebanese group Hezbollah for an attack in the Golan Heights in which 12 were killed, Lebanese broadcaster Al-Manar reported Sunday.

The Israeli army claimed Saturday that 12 children and teenagers had been killed in a strike on a sports field in the Golan Heights. Hezbollah has denied involvement in the attack, but Israeli officials have signaled imminent war against the group and the country of Lebanon.

According to the broadcaster, Israeli warplanes "carried out air strikes on the cities of Khiam and Kfarkela," as well as "on the outskirts of the cities of Aabbasiyyeh and Borj El Chmali" in the Tyre district of southern Lebanon. Additionally Israel fired a missile at the village of Tayr Harfa, Al-Manar reported.

Until 1967 the Golan Heights were part of the Syrian province of Quneitra, inhabited mainly by the Druze Arab ethnoreligious group. Two-thirds of the strategic territory were captured by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967 and the fourth Arab-Israeli War in 1973. Tel Aviv unilaterally declared sovereignty over the region in 1981 but the UN Security Council rejects the claim, considering the Golan Heights to be occupied Syrian territory.