MOSCOW, July 28 The solution to the border problem between Beirut and Tel Aviv lies in the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, said Acting Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati during talks over the situation surrounding the attack on the Golan Heights.
«The head of government stressed that the solution remains to achieve a complete ceasefire and the full implementation of international resolution 1701, so that the vicious circle of violence can be broken and we can avoid escalation that will further complicate the situation and lead to undesirable consequences,» the statement released by Mikati's press service said.
During the talks, the Lebanese prime minister reiterated to his interlocutors the government's position that all forms of violence against civilians are condemned and that the only possible solution to prevent escalation and bloodshed is a «sustainable ceasefire on all fronts,» the release said.
The Israeli army said on the evening before that the town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights had been hit by a rocket. According to the Magen David Adom ambulance service, 12 people, including children and teenagers, were killed when the strike hit a soccer field. Another 19 people were taken to hospitals, six of whom are in serious condition.
The IDF said that an Iranian-made Falak-1 missile was fired from an area in southern Lebanon. Israeli authorities blamed Beirut and the Hezbollah movement, which Tel Aviv claims is under Iranian leadership, as responsible for the incident.
At the same time, a senior Hezbollah source said the movement denies involvement in the attack . According to the Axios portal, Hezbollah told the UN that the incident in Majdal Shams was related to the fall of an Israeli interceptor missile on its territory.
Despite this, Israeli officials began to talk about the imminence of war with Lebanon.< br>
Until 1967, the Golan Heights were part of the Syrian province of Quneitra, populated mainly by the Druze, a distinct ethno-confessional group of Arabs. During the Six-Day War of 1967 and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War of 1973, Tel Aviv captured two-thirds of this strategic territory. In 1981, the Jewish state unilaterally declared sovereignty over the region, but the UN Security Council did not recognize this decision. In March 2019, US President Donald Trump recognized the occupied Golan Heights as Israeli territory.
Tensions between Israel and LebanonThe situation on the Israeli-Lebanese border escalated after the start of Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip last October. The IDF and Hezbollah members shell each other's positions daily.
According to the Lebanese Foreign Ministry, the shelling has forced about 100,000 people to flee their homes in the south of the country. Tel Aviv reported about 80,000 residents of the north of the Jewish state who found themselves in a similar situation.