Ten killed as rockets from Lebanon hit football pitch in Israeli-held Golan Heights

Ten people, including children, were killed in a rocket attack on a football ground in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday, Israel’s N12 News reported, the worst incident yet in months of violence between Israel and armed groups in Lebanon.

The Israeli military said the rocket was fired by Lebanese group Hezbollah. The Iran-backed group denied any involvement in the attack, which looked likely to draw a fierce response from Israel.

The Israeli emergency service said earlier that nine people were critically wounded by a rocket fired from Lebanon that hit a village football pitch in the Druze village of Majdal Shams. A medic described great destruction and fire at the scene.

“We witnessed great destruction when we arrived at the soccer field, as well as items that were on fire. There were casualties on the grass and the scene was gruesome,” said Magen David Adom medic Idan Avshalom.

A witness told Reuters: “It landed in the soccer pitch, all of them are children ... many bodies and remains are in field we don’t know who they are.” She asked not to be named.

The attack on the soccer pitch followed an Israeli strike in Lebanon that killed four militants on Saturday. Two security sources in Lebanon said the four fighters killed in the Israeli strike on Kfarkila in southern Lebanon were members of different armed groups, with at least one of them belonging to Hezbollah.

The Israeli military said its aircraft had targeted a military structure belonging to Hezbollah, after identifying a militant cell entering the building.

Hezbollah claimed at least four attacks, including with Katyusha rockets, in retaliation for the Kfarkila attacks.

However, senior Hezbollah media representative Mohammad Afif denied responsibility for the strike on Majdal Shams.

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah denied that it fired the rocket which killed nine people in the town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

In a statement, the Iran-backed group said it “categorically denies the allegations reported by certain enemy media and various media platforms concerning the targeting of Majdal Shams.”

“The Islamic Resistance has no connection to this incident,” it said, referring to its military wing.

Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel have been trading fire since October, after Hamas’ attack on southern Israel triggered the Gaza war, in their worst escalation since 2006.