Hezbollah, Israel and the Golan Heights: What is happening?

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Hezbollah, ******* and the Golan Heights: What is happening?

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The ******* on Majdal Shams ******* 12 children and young people from the ********* Druze community

A deadly strike on a playing field in the ********-occupied Golan Heights has sharply escalated fears of a new war in the region.

******* says the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group was behind the *******, though the group has denied this.

What happened in the Golan Heights *******?

On the evening of Saturday 27 July, a blast hit a playing field in the town of Majdal Shams, ******** 12 children and young people from the ********* Druze community.

It was the deadliest incident in or around *******’s border with Lebanon since hostilities between ******* and Hezbollah escalated in October.

The strike, with its young victims, caused outrage and shock in ******* and around the world.

******* says Hezbollah carried out the ******* with an Iranian-made rocket, fired from a short distance away in Lebanon. The US also says Hezbollah was to blame.

Hezbollah has strongly denied involvement.

What is Hezbollah?

Hezbollah is a heavily armed militant and political movement based in Lebanon – *******’s northern neighbour.

Its military wing is one of the most powerful forces in the region, equipped with up to 200,000 missiles and rockets, as well as ******* drones. It is separate to the Lebanese army, and is much stronger.

Hezbollah is also politically influential in the Lebanese government.

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Hezbollah has scores of well-equipped fighters

The movement follows the Shia branch of Islam and is financed, equipped and trained by Iran, the dominant Shia power in the Middle East.

Hezbollah and its supporters consider it a legitimate resistance movement against *******, which it claims still occupies part of Lebanese territory. Hezbollah is a strong supporter of ****** and the Palestinians and rejects *******’s right to exist.

The movement is banned as a ********** organisation by Western states, *******, Gulf ***** countries and the ***** League

What is the Golan Heights and why is ******* there?

The Golan Heights is a rocky plateau in south-west Syria, extending towards north-east *******.

In the 1967 Middle East war, ******* captured about 1,200 km sq (about 460 square miles) of the Golan Heights, from which Syria had attacked it.

******* annexed the area in 1981, in a move which has not been recognised by the vast majority of the international community. The Trump administration broke with decades of US policy by recognising ******** sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights in 2019.

Syria says the land has always belonged to it and has vowed to recover the territory, while ******* says the heights are crucial for its defence and will remain in its hands forever.

About 20,000 ******* settlers live on the Golan Heights, which is also home to ******** military bases and listening posts. The settlements are considered ******** under international law, though ******* disputes this.

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Who are the Druze?

The Druze people are an Arabic-speaking ******* and religious group who mostly live in Lebanon, *******, Jordan and Syria. Part of the community has lived on the Golan Heights for centuries.

Those on the Golan Heights went from Syrian to ******** rule in June 1967, when ******* occupied most of it. Majdal Shams is the largest of four Druze-majority towns there.

******* offered citizenship to all of the Golan Height’s residents, though many chose to retain their allegiance to Syria.

About 20% of the approximately 21,000 Druze who live there today have accepted or inherited ******** citizenship. Those who have kept Syrian citizenship also have ******** residency status, with most of the same rights as ******** nationals apart from the right to vote.

Beyond the occupied Golan Heights, there about about 110,000 Druze who are full ******** citizens. They are the largest non-******* community which serves in the ******* Defense Forces (IDF), as part of the country’s mandatory national service.

There are about a million Druze in the world, though estimates vary. Their ****** is an offshoot of a branch of Shia Islam but theirs is a distinct religion with its own set of practices and beliefs.

Why might Hezbollah have fired at the Golan Heights?

Hezbollah fired at ******** targets the day after ******* was attacked by ****** in the south on 7 October. Hezbollah says it is acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Since then, the two sides have exchanged ***** on a regular basis, forcing thousands of people in Lebanon and ******* from their homes.

******** security officials say the rocket which ******* the youngsters was part of a barrage which struck several locations on the occupied Golan Heights. That followed an ******** strike that ******* four Hezbollah fighters in south Lebanon.

Most Hezbollah attacks since 8 October have hit northern *******, with fewer strikes on the Golan Heights. It has, though, repeatedly targeted ******** military positions on part of the Golan Heights called the Shebaa Farms/Mount Dov, just a few miles from Majdal Shams.

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******* has military positions on part of the Golan Heights called the Shebaa Farms/Mount Dov

Hezbollah may have calculated that the international reaction to attacking an area considered to be under ******** occupation would be relatively muted, while keeping up pressure on the ******** government and military as they ****** a war in Gaza.

What has it all got to do with ****** and the war in Gaza?

Hezbollah supports ******, which has been at war with ******* since 7 October, when ****** gunmen launched an unprecedented ******* on *******, ******** about 1,200 people and taking 251 others back to Gaza as hostages.

Hezbollah opened up a limited second front in *******’s north the next day and the two sides have been exchanging ***** ever since.

Both ****** and Hezbollah are backed by Iran (although ****** is a Sunni ******* group and Hezbollah is Shia). Both are part of what Iran calls an “axis of resistance”, a loose alliance of like-minded, Iran-backed groups across the Middle East, acting against ******* and *******’s key ally, the US, in the region.

Hezbollah has not got directly involved in the war in Gaza and has said it will stop ******* at ******* if and when there is a ceasefire between ******* and ******.

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