Russia condemns terrorism conducted by any entity, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said, reacting to a new escalation on the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Israel accused Lebanon-based Islamist group Hezbollah on Saturday of launching a rocket tha landed on a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, which killed at least 12 teenagers and children, mostly of Syrian Druze origin, and wounded about 20 others. The group has denied involvement in the attack.
An earlier Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon reportedly killed three Hezbollah members.
Commenting on the latest escalation across the border, Lavrov told reporters on Sunday that Russia “condemns all terrorist actions by any entity,” recalling that Moscow equally condemned the October 7 Hamas attack on Israeli civilians and Israel’s retaliation, which he said was a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law” because it amounted to “collective punishment of the people.”
The strategically important Golan Heights were seized from Syria in the 1967 Six Day war and later unilaterally annexed by Israel – a move that is still not recognized by most of the international community.
In response to the soccer field attack, the Israel Defense Forces said it had conducted strikes on “a series of Hezbollah terror targets… both deep inside Lebanese territory and in southern Lebanon.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz claimed in the aftermath of the strike on the stadium that “there is no doubt that Hezbollah crossed all red lines” while warning that his country is on the brink of “an all-out war” with the group in Lebanon.
Tensions have been running high on the Israel-Lebanon border since the Palestinian movement Hamas attacked Israel, with West Jerusalem and Hezbollah – which has close ties to Iran – frequently exchanging cross-border fire, fueling concerns about the possibility of a wider regional conflict.
An unnamed US official told CBS News that the recent escalation was “almost all-out war.” Other sources told the outlet that it was a “nightmare scenario” feared by the White House, which was attempting to de-escalate the crisis and contain the fallout.