Islam Times - Who’s Benefiting from Majdal Shams Attack? 5 Questions Answered

Islam Times - Though Lebanese Hezbollah and other resistance groups joined the Gaza war in defense of the Palestinian people since the beginning of the Israeli invasion of the coastal enclave, a suspicious rocket attack on the occupied Golan Heights's Majdal Shams village has pushed the tensions between Tel Aviv and Lebanese resistance movement to next level. According to the Israeli sources, in the attack on Majdal Shams at least 12 were killed and 19 were injured. It is said that this attack is the worst on the northern occupied territories since the start of war on October 8 and could potentially spiral into an all-out war between Hezbollah and the Israeli regime.

Despite the fact that the Israeli army named Hezbollah responsible for this attack and claimed that it is preparing to respond to it, Hezbollah's spokesman, Mohammad Afif, denied any connection with this incident. He said all allegations of involvement of this resistance group in the incident are false. On the other hand, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also cut short his visit to the US and convened with the security cabinet as soon as he arrived in Tel Aviv to discuss the response.

Where is Majdal Shams?

Majdal Shams is one of the four villages located in the Golan Heights where about 25,000 Druze ethnic people live. The Golan Heights has an area of about 1,800 km, of which 1,200 km is occupied by Israel. The Israelis have been occupying this part of Syria since the Six-Day War between the Arabs and Israel in 1967. Currently, there are more than a dozen Jewish settlements in this region. At the same time, 20,000 Syrian residents of the Golan Heights still live in this region. This group is generally Syrian Druze citizens who have refused to accept Israeli citizenship.

The rocket attack on this village is shredded in mystery. Some analysts suggest that it is likely that an Iron Dome defense rocket landed in this small football field, especially that these villages are not a target to Hezbollah’s attacks in solidarity with the Palestinians. Some others have described intentionality of the attack as likely.

5 ambiguities and questions

Having in mind that it seems that Tel Aviv is looking to spread the war from Gaza to other regions, it seems that the Majdal Shams incident is actually an excuse for Tel Aviv to drag the Gaza war into Lebanon. So, several ambiguities and questions present themselves:

Why is Hezbollah denying involvement?

Having in mind that Hezbollah has so far launched numerous attacks on Israeli positions, why is this movement denying responsibility for this attack? So far, the movement has claimed the responsibility for all its anti-Israeli attacks and made it clear that it has nothing to hide. Hezbollah has launched more important positions and officially declared responsibility for them. Before the reports about Majdal Shams attack, Hezbollah had carried out at least four other major attacks against the occupiers and accepted responsibility for them, one of them on the Hermon Brigade's headquarters at the foot of Mount Hermon, which is on the occupied border areas with Lebanon. This base is located at a distance of about 3 kilometers from the Majdal Shams football field, which was targeted, and Hezbollah officially announced its operations in all of them. It does not seem that Hezbollah had a role in the attack and there is no reason for the movement to hide anything.

Who is targeting civilians?

Majdal Shams attack was against civilians in a football field. During the Gaza war, Lebanese Hezbollah attacks have targeted military bases and Israeli military aggression forces, and in none of the previous attacks, Hezbollah forces have targeted residential areas or citizens. Unlike Lebanon's Hezbollah, it is the Israeli forces that have targeted and massacred about 40,000 Palestinian civilians in Gaza and even in southern Lebanon. Therefore, the Israelis have a long history of targeting civilians, but the Lebanese Hezbollah only targets military sites and gatherings.

Who launches attacks on own citizens and forces?

There are various accounts that in October 7 attack of Hamas it was the Israeli forces that targeted Israeli citizens by mistake or purposely. Earlier, Haaretz in a report revealed that in October of last year, during the Operation Al-Aqsa Storm clashes that led to death of 1,400 Israelis, a number of the citizens were killed by Israeli army units. The report specifically addressed the incidents of the music festival in Re'im kibbutz bordering the Gaza Strip. According to the report, the Israeli helicopter pilots mistakenly attacked people in the festival who were fleeing the attack scene, killing many people. Also, another report suggested that Barack Khiram, the commander of the reserve forces who were recalled to clash with the Hamas fighters, asked the air force to strike a kindergarten in the kibbutz in which Palestinian fighters were believed to have taken shelter. During this attack, which caused a lot of damage to the kindergarten building and its surrounding buildings, some Israeli citizens were also killed, the number of which has not been announced.

Who is benefiting from Majdal Shams attack?

The residents of Majdal Shams are mostly Syrian citizens who support the government of Bashar al-Assad and the Axis of Resistance, and targeting this village by Hezbollah or any other resistance member is meaningless. In fact, the Axis of the Resistance does not seek an attack on Majdal Shams, because this village is the social origin of the resistance inside the occupied Golan. Unlike Hezbollah and the resistance forces, Israel is trying hard to force the residents of Majdal al-Shams into confrontation and hostility against Hezbollah and other resistance forces. In fact, attributing the attack on Majdal Shams to Hezbollah in Lebanon can cause a split in the bonds and unity between the Syrian and Lebanese Druze with the resistance camp, especially after Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, and this is the goal that Israel is seeking. In fact, for a long time, Tel Aviv has been seeking to sow division between the Axis of Resistance and the Druze people of the Golan Heights, and now attributing the rocket attack to Hezbollah is in line with Tel Aviv's goals.

Who is seeking to destabilize Majdal Shams?

It should be kept in mind that the Israelis have gone to great lengths to paint Majdal Shams as insecure. Instability in this village can be a prelude to the forced displacement of residents of this region to other regions under the excuse of security for Druze people. Israel has been struggling for years to persuade the residents of this village to migrate to other regions to allow the army to set up bases for military watch over Lebanon and Syria. Now, the attack on Majdal Shams serves this agenda.