THE United States cautioned Israel today against escalating its conflict with Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government considers how to respond to a rocket attack that killed 12 youths in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights at the weekend.

The incident further increased concerns about a wider regional war, even though Hezbollah denied involvement.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Israeli President Isaac Herzog today and “emphasised the importance of preventing escalation of the conflict and discussed efforts to reach a diplomatic solution to allow citizens on both sides of the border between Israel and Lebanon to return home,” the State Department said.

Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has occurred almost daily since the Gaza invasion began last October.

Today, Israeli strikes killed two people on a motorcycle and injured three others in southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s state-run news agency said.

Israeli military officials claimed that the attacks had struck Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure.

An official with a Lebanese group said that Hezbollah had started moving some of its “smart, precision-guided missiles,” adding that it doesn’t want a full-blown war with Israel, but if one breaks out, it will fight without limits.

Hezbollah’s firepower is far greater than Hamas possesses and analysts have said that a war in Israel’s north while its forces are engaged in Gaza would overburden the military.

Mr Netanyahu visited the site of the rocket attack in the Druze town of Majdal Shams today to pay condolences, saying that “our response will come and it will be severe.”

However, after Mr Netanyahu left the area of the football field where the rocket hit, some residents ran up, threw away the wreath and said that the tragedy should not be manipulated for political purposes.

Relatives and friends of the dead cried over photos of the children and teenagers that had been placed there. They said they wanted the war to end.

In other de-escalation efforts, the office of Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that he had held “intensive diplomatic contacts after the recent Israeli threats against Lebanon,” including a call with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who “renewed the call on all parties to exercise restraint to prevent escalation.”

Mr Lammy posted on social media site X that he had phoned Mr Mikati “to express my concern at escalating tension and welcomed the government of Lebanon’s statement urging for cessation of all violence.”