MAJDAL SHAMS: Weeping men carried small coffins at a funeral ceremony attended by thousands from the Druze community on Sunday for many of the 12 youths killed in a rocket attack on the Zionist-occupied Golan Heights. The Zionist military said they were struck on Saturday by an Iranian-made rocket carrying a 50-kilogram warhead that Lebanon’s Hezbollah group fired at a football field in the Druze Arab town of Majdal Shams. Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the strike. Local authorities said the dead were aged between 10 and 16.

The Zionist army called Saturday’s rocket strike “the deadliest attack on (Zionist) civilians” since the October 7 attack by Hamas Palestinian militants on southern communities in the entity.

In Majdal Shams, many residents have not accepted Zionist nationality. The Zionist entity seized the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 after the Arab-Zionist war. The entity formally annexed the territory in 1981, prompting the UN Security Council to unanimously pass a resolution condemning the move and reasserting the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force.

“The (Zionist) decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights is null and void and without international legal effect,” the resolution said. Until Donald Trump’s 2019 decision to recognize the territory as the entity’s, no other country in the world had accepted Zionist claims to the Golan Heights.

‘Leave children out’

Hundreds of men dressed in traditional attire, including white caps topped with red, attended the ceremonies which saw coffins borne through the crowded narrow streets of the town, which came to a standstill. Others lined balconies to look down on the procession of white-covered caskets with white roses and baby’s breath flowers resting on top. “Leave our children out of these wars,” sobbed one woman in the procession.

Under a scorching sun, some mourners carried large photos of the dead children, including one boy wearing a suit. Earlier, several women dressed in black abaya robes cried as they laid flowers on the caskets, an AFP correspondent reported. “Every night, every day, every minute we are worried. It’s been like this for 10 months,” Laith, a 42-year-old nurse who gave only his first name, told AFP.

This is the first time Majdal Shams has experienced such a loss during the Zionist assault on Gaza and it has hit hard, said Fadi Mahmud, 48, who works in construction. “Our community is very close-knit. These children are like the children of everybody in the village,” he said.

‘We have nothing’

The Zionist entity vowed to strike back “hard” after the rocket attack, and Iran warned the Zionist entity against any new military “adventures” in Lebanon. But Ziyad, 63, who gave only a first name, said Majdal Shams doesn’t want to see an escalation. “Most people want to be in their house and deal with their grief. This is what is needed as opposed to overreacting,” he said.

On the funeral’s sidelines, discussions within the Druze community got heated, reflecting the divisions within the community spread across three countries. “I feel it’s not in our hands. I am just so scared of what will happen,” said Amani Safadi, a 22-year-old student, noting that residents of Majdal Shams have been within earshot of the cross-border exchanges for nearly 10 months.

“If we had 10 percent hope, now we have nothing,” said Salina Kablan, 22, who came to support her cousin, who was near the football field the day of the strike. “I feel trapped, I feel targeted. What will happen tomorrow?” she asked. — AFP