1 of 3 | Israeli officials said Hezbollah launched Saturday evening’s deadly rocket attack in retaliation for a successful airstrike Israel launched against an arms depot in southern Lebanon that killed three Hezbollah militants. Photo by Atef Safadi/EPA-EFE
July 27 (UPI) — A rocket attack struck a soccer field in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights, and killed at least 11 children and teens and wounded more than 34 Saturday night. Israel Defense Forces officials said Hezbollah is responsible for the direct hit on a soccer field near a playground in the Majdal Shams area of the Golan Heights.
Magen David Adom teams and IDF helicopters ferried the dead and wounded to nearby hospitals.
IDF officials said those killed are children and teens between ages 8 and 14 and were wearing soccer uniforms.
The rocket attack on the Majdal Shams area occurred several hours after an Israeli airstrike killed three Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah leaders denied responsibility for the rocket attack, but the IDF said it tracked one projectile crossing into the area from Lebanon.
Hezbollah said its militants targeted an Israeli military post in the Golan Heights with Katyusha rockets in response to airstrikes carried out by the IDF earlier Saturday.
Hezbollah said three of its militants were killed in the Israeli airstrike but did not say where the strike occurred.
The IDF said the Israeli Air Force targeted an arms depot that was manned by Hezbollah militants in the border town of Kfar Kila.
The militants were inside the depot when the airstrike occurred.
The strike on the Golan Heights is the deadliest action so far after the Israel and Hezbollah conflict began following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on civilians in Israel.
Israel captured the Golan Heights after Syria attacked Israel in 1967 and annexed the area in 1981.