Fears of all-out war grow after Golan Heights strike

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World leaders mounted a diplomatic effort to dissuade Israel from increasing its attacks on Lebanon amid fears that an all-out war would envelop the region in response to a rocket strike that killed 12 people, including children, in the occupied Golan Heights.

Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant pledged a heavy response to the attack on the town of Majdal Shams. "Hezbollah is responsible for this and they will pay the price," he said.

Hezbollah "firmly denies" it was behind the strike that killed children playing on a soccer field, suggesting it may have been an Israeli interceptor missile that went astray.

As tensions rose French President Emmanuel Macron told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that France remained committed to doing "everything to avoid a new escalation in the region."

So far the skirmishes that have killed both civilians and soldiers in Lebanon and Israel have been "relatively contained," said the BBC. But now "the question is how far Israel will go in response to Saturday's tragedy."

A "war against Lebanon is a regional war," said Lebanon's Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib to CNN.