We've just been hearing a bit more from the Lebanese government about the deaths in the Golan Heights.

The Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib has told Weekend on the BBC World Service that he doesn’t think that Hezbollah carried out the strike.

The foreign minister condemned "the killing of civilians wherever they are” and said an international committee is needed to find out what happened.

“I don’t think Hezbollah would do it”, he said, and added that “it could be a mistake by the Israelis or by Hezbollah”.

He called the strike "a disaster" but said it didn'tt mean there should be "more destruction and killing" and "we are asking Hezbollah not to retaliate at this present time”.

Bou Habib later told reporters from Reuters that he had contacted the US to ask them to also urge restraint from Israel.

Yesterday's deadly rocket strike took place in the Druze town of Majdal Shams.

The Druze are a religious and ethnic group that mostly live in northern Israel, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. In Israel, they have full citizenship rights and comprise about 1.5% of the population.

Those living in the Golan were offered Israeli citizenship when the region was annexed from Syria in 1981, but not everyone accepted.

Druze in the Golan can still study and work in Israel, though only those with citizenship can vote.

Male Israeli Druze are required to serve in the army. They are the largest non-Jewish group in the IDF.

The vast majority of the international community does not recognise Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights.

The prospect of an all-out war scares manypublished at 09:59 British Summer Time 28 July

09:59 BST 28 July

Paul Adams
reporting from the Golan Heights

Israel says the rocket was fired from Chebaa, a small village just a short distance away across the western flank of Mt Hermon, which towers over Majdal Shams.

Hezbollah disputes Israel’s claim, but around the time the rocket landed here, its media outlets announced that it had fired rockets towards an Israeli military base less than two miles from the football pitch.

This is a day of funerals for some of the 12 boys and girls who died here. Grief hangs heavy in the summer heat. A voice is briefly raised, furious and urgent.

“How come there’s still a Beirut?” he cries. “We’ve had 10 months of our children living in fear.”

There’s a ripple of applause, but opinion here in this Druze minority town is divided on how forcefully Israel should respond.

After almost 10 months of simmering conflict, the prospect of an all-out war scares many.

Paul Adams
reporting from the Golan Heights

There are plenty of people here - local Druze elders in their distinctive red and white turbans and baggy trousers, military officials, visiting government ministers and of course many journalists.

But conversations, around the crater where the rocket landed, are hushed, respectful.

A black flag flies at the spot where the rocket landed last night, gouging a shallow crater in the pitch and blowing out the metal fence around the pitch.

There are shrapnel holes everywhere.

Wreaths have just been laid.

Many people are simply standing by the crater, taking in the scene, lost in thought.

In the corner of the pitch, someone has tried to remove the bloodstains on the artificial turf, but with only limited success.

Outside the fence, bicycles and scooters lie scattered, all blackened from yesterday’s brief but devastating fireball.

There’s a bomb shelter metres away from the Majdal Shams football pitch where 12 children and young adults died yesterday, but when the siren sounded last night, they had mere seconds to respond.

They had absolutely no chance.

Twelve children and young adults were killed in a rocket strike while playing football in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Saturday's deadly rocket strike, which killed 12 children and young adults, took place in the Druze town of Majdal Shams.

Majdal Shams is one of four villages in the Golan Heights, where about 25,000 members of the Arabic-speaking Druze religious and ethnic group live.

Before reports of the strike's impact emerged, Hezbollah had claimed responsibility for four other attacks.

One was on a nearby military compound on the slopes of Mt Hermon, which lies on the border between the Golan Heights and Lebanon. The base is around 3km (2 miles) from the football pitch.

A spokesperson for Iran's foreign ministry, Nasser Kanani, has said any new military "adventures" in Lebanon by Israel could lead to "the broadening of the scope of instability, insecurity and war in the region", AFP reports.

Iran also warns of "unforeseen consequences" after Israel hit Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

Israel has blamed the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah for Saturday's deadly rocket strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

However, Hezbollah has strongly denied any involvement in the incident, which killed 12 children and young adults.

Image source, EPA

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the leader of the Arabic-speaking Druze religious and ethnic group in Israel that "Hezbollah will pay a heavy price, the kind it has thus far not paid", according to a statement from his office.

Netanyahu's comments come after 12 children and young adults were killed in a rocket attack while playing football in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday.

In response, Israel's air force says it has hit Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

Andrew Humphrey
Live editor

Hello and welcome to our coverage of escalating tensions between Israel and the Lebanon-based group Hezbollah.

Here's what we know so far.

• On Saturday, a rocket landed in a town in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens more, according to Israeli authorities
• Israel blamed the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah for the strike, though the group denied responsibility

• PM Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials promised retaliation against Hezbollah, raising fears of an all-out war between Israel and the militant group which has so far been avoided since the war in Gaza began nearly 10 months ago
• Early on Sunday, the IDF said it had conducted air strikes against seven Hezbollah targets "deep inside Lebanese territory"
• The Golan incident was the single largest loss of life in northern Israeli-controlled territory since the 7 October attacks last year

• The attack took place on the same day as a separate reported Israeli strike on a school in Gaza, which killed at least 30 people, according to the Hamas-run ministry of health there