TOKYO: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that there was 鈥渆very indication鈥� that Lebanese militant group Hezbollah was behind a rocket strike in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights that killed 12 young people.
鈥淓very indication is that indeed the rocket was from Hezbollah. We stand by Israel鈥檚 right to defend its citizens from terrorist attacks,鈥� 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.
鈥淲e are determined to bring the Gaza conflict to a close. It鈥檚 gone on for far too long. It鈥檚 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,鈥� Blinken said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e 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鈥檙e able to do that,鈥� he said in Tokyo.
鈥淏ut we also don鈥檛 want to see the conflict escalating. We don鈥檛 want to see a spread. That has been one of our goals from day one, from October 7 on, and we鈥檒l continue to do that.
鈥淏ut again, the best way to do that in a sustained way is to get the ceasefire in Gaza that we鈥檙e working so hard on virtually every minute of the day,鈥� he said.