By Mireille Rebeiz, Dickinson College

A missile strike that killed 12 children playing soccer in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on July 27, 2024, has prompted international concern that the Middle East conflict could expand into the disputed territory.

Fears of an escalation in the simmering conflict between Hezbollah and Israel have prompted some airlines to cancel flights to Lebanon, but business appeared to be proceeding as usual Tuesday at the Beirut airport, where many travelers greeted the warnings with a shrug.

Hadi Sharqawi, 24, a Lebanese student in Italy, arrived Tuesday after two days of flight cancellations, to spend a month and a half with his family as he normally does in the summer. He is from the town of Kharayeb, which is in southern Lebanon although relatively far from the border where clashes have been ongoing for 10 months.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has expressed gratitude to Druze leader Walid Jumblat “in appreciaion of his stances on the war on Gaza and south Lebanon for the past 10 months, specifically over his latest stance on the rocket attack on Majdal Shams,” the pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar daily reported on Tuesday.

Jumblat “confronted the attempts to stir strife and exploit the incident,” al-Akhbar said.

Hezbollah on Tuesday said that it is taking the latest Israeli threats seriously and that it is “fully prepared” for any Israeli strike linked to Saturday’s deadly rocket fire on the Golan’s Majdal Shams.

“The enemy’s talk of a harsh and limited strike does not concern us at all, because it will be an aggression regardless of its magnitude,” a senior Hezbollah leader told Al-Jazeera television.

A Western diplomat whose country is involved in diplomatic efforts to prevent a major escalation in the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel says he anticipates Israel will keep its retaliation within boundaries that would not lead to an all-out war, similar to the exchange of strikes between Iran and Israel earlier this year after Israel struck an Iranian consular building in Syria.

“It’s clear that they (Israel) want to take a stance but without leading to a generalized conflict,” the diplomat said. “It’s sure that there will be a retaliation. It will be symbolic. It may be spectacular, but it will not be a reason for both parties to engage in a general escalation.” He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly.

Two days after a rocket slammed into a soccer pitch in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights, killing 12 children, many questions remain about the attack on the Druze town of Majdal Shams.

Israel accused Hezbollah in Lebanon of deliberately targeting civilians, while Hezbollah quickly issued a rare denial of any responsibility for the attack.

Druze residents of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights distanced themselves Tuesday from Israeli threats to retaliate against Lebanon's Hezbollah group for a deadly rocket strike on a Druze Arab town in the territory.

Most of Majdal Shams's around 11,000 residents still identify as Syrian more than half a century after Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria and later annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community.

Three citizens were lightly wounded Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of the town of Jibsheet near Nabatieh, as diplomats raced to contain escalation between Israel and Hezbollah following a deadly strike that killed 12 youths in the annexed Golan Heights.

Hezbollah said it targeted a command center in Beit Hillel with Katyusha rockets in retaliation to the strike on Jibsheet. Israel's state media said one person was killed in the rocket attack in HaGoshrim near Beit Hillel.

The United States is confident that a wider war between Israel and Hezbollah can be avoided despite a deadly rocket attack in the annexed Golan Heights that killed 12 children, the White House said.

U.S. and Israeli officials had conversations at "multiple levels" over the weekend following the attack and the risk of a full-blown conflict is "exaggerated," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday.

For months, Israel has vowed to put an end to the frequent cross-border fire from Hezbollah which has led authorities to evacuate tens of thousands of citizens from areas near the border with Lebanon.

The situation has grown more tense this week following a rocket strike on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights which killed 12 children, raising fears of a further escalation in Israel's conflict with Hezbollah.