US’s Blinken says ‘every indication’ Golan rocket fired by Hezbollah

TOKYO (AFP) : US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that there was “every indication” that Lebanese militant group Hezbollah was behind a rocket strike in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights that killed 12 young people.

“Every indication is that indeed the rocket was from Hezbollah. We stand by Israel’s right to defend its citizens from terrorist attacks,” Blinken told reporters in Japan.

The Israeli military said the young people were struck on Saturday by an Iranian-made rocket carrying a 50-kilogram warhead that Iran-backed Hezbollah fired at a football field in the Druze Arab town of Majdal Shams.

Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the strike.

“We are determined to bring the Gaza conflict to a close. It’s gone on for far too long. It’s cost far too many lives. We want to see Israelis, we want to see Palestinians, we want to see Lebanese live free from the threat of conflict and violence,” Blinken said.

“We’re in conversations with the government of Israel. And again, I emphasize its right to defend its citizens and our determination to make sure that they’re able to do that,” he said in Tokyo.

“But we also don’t want to see the conflict escalating. We don’t want to see a spread. That has been one of our goals from day one, from October 7 on, and we’ll continue to do that.

“But again, the best way to do that in a sustained way is to get the ceasefire in Gaza that we’re working so hard on virtually every minute of the day,” he said.