The Israeli army has confirmed that the rocket attack on the soccer field in Majdal Shams, which resulted in the tragic deaths of 12 children, was carried out using a ‘Falaq-1’ model rocket. This rocket is Iranian-made and owned by Hezbollah, with a warhead weighing over 50 kg.
Falaq-1 240 mm Artillery Rocket. Here are the specs:
Performance:
Maximum range at sea level: 10 km
Maximum flight altitude: 3.5 km
Dimensions:
Length: 1320 mm
Caliber: 240 mm
Packing Dimension: 343x330x1350 mm
Weights:
Overall Weight: 111 kg
Warhead Weight: 50 kg
Other Specifications:
Packing: 1 round in a wooden box
Stabilizing Type: Spin Stabilized
Propellant Type: Double base
Hezbollah, in turn, has issued a stark warning to the people of Lebanon, threatening that anyone who publicizes the fact that the missile belonged to Hezbollah will be arrested. The blame for this horrific incident lies squarely with Hezbollah’s terror operations and their supporters in Tehran.
12 Israeli children murdered by Hezbollah today. Most of them were Arab Druze children yet terror apologists describe them as “settlers” pic.twitter.com/Etc2bIVNqA
— Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇺🇦🇹🇼 (@DrewPavlou) July 28, 2024
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speaking on CNN:
First of all, I send my deepest condolences to the families of the 12 young boys and girls who were playing soccer and were murdered by Hezbollah. This is the worst attack on Israel since October 7th in terms of the number of children being murdered. It’s unacceptable. This was a beautiful community of Israeli Druze, which is a small sect in Israel, and they are our brothers and sisters. This was a terrible murder attack. Enough is enough. Hezbollah has absolutely no basis to be fighting with Israel. There’s no territorial dispute or any nonsense about occupation. They have started a war with Israel, and it’s been now 10 months. I hear all the rhetoric, all the lofty speeches, and words. We are fed up with lofty rhetoric and hollow words accompanied by feeble action. It is time for action.
The state of Lebanon, which is part and parcel of Hezbollah, has started a war with Israel. We will no longer make the distinction between Lebanon and Hezbollah, which is part of Lebanon. The state of Lebanon essentially shot a rocket made in Iran. We know the name of the guy who shot it; his name is Ali Mahmoud Yahya. These rockets were made in Iran—Iranian rockets with 50 kilograms of a warhead. It’s time that we hit back.
We are still trying to confirm all of that information just to be clear with our viewers, but I certainly hear you. You say that they started this war. There’s one thing you don’t need to confirm: 12 boys and girls were murdered by a rocket shot from Lebanon. We did forensic work. We know it’s an Iranian rocket that could only be in the hands of Hezbollah. Unfortunately, we do know that those children were killed, which is simply horrific.
You said that they’ve started a war with Israel. There’s been a lot of concern, especially by the U.S. and U.S. officials, that this could escalate into war with Hezbollah between Israel and Hezbollah. Is that what you’re advocating for? Is that what you think is the only acceptable response at this point?
You can’t escalate more than murdering 12 boys and girls in their young teens. I have four children that age exactly. Imagine if it was your kids, my kids, or the viewers’ kids. This was totally unprovoked, absolutely no reason. This is a result of a feeble, weak policy of many words and speeches but not enough action. The only way to stop all of this, the only way to deter our enemies from hitting us day and night—from Yemen, from Iran, from Iraq, from Lebanon—is to fight back and to hit them. There’s no other way. I hate war. I lost my best friend in war. We hate war, but when someone, in an unprovoked action, kills our children—and make no mistake, those Druze Israeli kids are my children—we have to hit back. We can’t have any more speeches. It’s time for action.
So, we know that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was here in the U.S., has cut that short. He’s headed back to Israel now. He will meet with his war cabinet. What do you want to hear from them when they meet? What do you want the outcome of that meeting to be?
The fundamental duty of a government is to provide security to its people. That’s it. It’s time to provide security to the Israeli people. If we can’t do it, let someone else do it. How to do it? I just explained. Hezbollah equals Lebanon. We should make no more distinction between the two. If Nasrallah wants to understand what he’s causing the state of Lebanon, he can look down in Gaza and see what happened in Gaza. He says that he’s the defender of Lebanon, but in fact, by doing what he did this night and during the past 10 months, and having 880,000 Israelis evacuated from our homes, he is effectively bringing destruction on the state of Lebanon. Let all the people of Lebanon know that Hezbollah and Nasrallah are playing games as a proxy of Iran and are destroying Lebanon. We are not going to tweezer our way through and look for Hezbollah amid Lebanon. Hezbollah is part of the government. Hezbollah is part of Lebanon. What Lebanon needs to do tonight is move all of Hezbollah away from the border, all the way up to the River of Litani, and stop everything they’re doing. That is the only way they can prevent an all-out war.
And I want to ask you too because these negotiations over a ceasefire and hostage deal are supposed to resume in Rome tomorrow. Israel just shared its latest proposal for that deal. What kind of impact do you think this attack is going to have on those talks?
When someone kills our children, we cannot talk. We have to act. This is such a horrendous murder attack because they shot a rocket not at a military base, not against fighters—they shot it at a quiet, peaceful Druze village in the Golan Heights called Majdal Shams. Beautiful people and kids who were playing on a soccer field. These are very accurate rockets. The guy who did it, Ali Mahmoud Yahya, is a commander in Hezbollah. Nasrallah denied that it’s Hezbollah. He’s a coward. He shoots rockets and murders kids and then claims it’s not him. But we have the forensics. No one else in Lebanon has Iranian rockets with 50 kilograms of a warhead. No one else.
So, I just want to be clear though and underscore, you would not support a ceasefire and hostage deal at this point? Is that what you’re saying? You don’t think that’s the way forward?
Down in Gaza, I’ll support whatever the government does. I’m supportive of the government even when I think they’re not doing the best of things. I have to be supportive of my own government. But up in the north, it’s a different war. And we have Hezbollah just shooting at us unprovoked, and they can’t get away with this. So, there is a way to reach a ceasefire up north, and the only way is for Hezbollah to move far away from our border. We have an agreed-upon location in Israel; it’s called the Litani River. If they push away, if they stop all the hostilities, then they can avert all-out destruction of Lebanon.