Andie Parry, Alexandra Braverman,

Katherine Wells, and Brian Carter

Information Cutoff: 2:00 pm ET

The IDF assessed that Lebanese Hezbollah conducted a rocket attack that killed at least ten Israeli children and “youths” and wounded 30 other Israeli civilians in Majdal Shams, northern Israel, on July 27. The IDF assessed that Hezbollah conducted the attack using at least 40 projectiles in three separate barrages. Hezbollah denied responsibility for the attack.  The rockets struck a soccer field in Majdal Shams, which is a Druze village in northern Israel. Israeli media reported that many the wounded civilians are children. Israeli media reported that this attack caused the most civilian casualties in northern Israel since October 2023. The IDF's preliminary investigation concluded that while there was a rocket alert, the warning was too short. The attack followed an IDF attack that killed four Hezbollah fighters in Kfar Kila, Lebanon on July 27. Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah previously threatened to strike new locations inside Israel in a televised speech on July 27. Nasrallah stated that Hezbollah would hit new Israeli targets if Israel “continues to target civilians” in Lebanon. Hezbollah—not Israel—initiated the war on the northern border by conducting near daily attacks into northern Israel beginning on October 8.

Iranian-backed militias continued attacks on US forces in Syria on July 26, likely as part of a new attack campaign aimed at expelling US forces from Iraq and Syria. Local Syrian sources and international journalists reported that Iranian-backed militants fired at least two rockets targeting US forces at Conoco Mission Support Site in eastern Syria. Unspecified US officials confirmed to a BBC journalist that US forces struck the rocket launch site shortly after the attack. The US Defense Department has not publicly confirmed this report. A new Iranian-backed Iraqi militia “al Thawriyyun” previously claimed two rocket attacks targeting US forces in Iraq and Syria on July 25. One of those rocket attacks targeted Conoco Mission Support Site in Syria. Al Thawriyyun said that their attacks on US forces would persist and become more advanced until US forces withdraw from Iraq. CTP-ISW noted on July 17 that Iranian-backed Iraqi militias appear to have resumed their attack campaign targeting US forces in Iraq and Syria. This is the fifth attack on US forces in Iraq and Syria since late June 2024. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq paused its attack campaign in February 2024 but militias within the coalition recently threatened to resume their attacks against US forces.

Key Takeaways:

• Iraq and Syria: Iranian-backed militias continued attacks on US forces in Syria on July 26, likely as part of a new attack campaign aimed at expelling US forces from Iraq and Syria.

• Lebanon: The IDF assessed that Lebanese Hezbollah conducted a rocket attack that killed at least ten Israeli children and “youths” and wounded 30 other Israeli civilians in Majdal Shams, northern Israel, on July 27.

• Ceasefire Negotiations: Israel submitted an updated ceasefire proposal to international mediators on July 27.

Click here to read the full update.

ISW–CTP has launched an interactive map of Israeli ground operations to accompany our daily campaign assessments of the Israel–Hamas war. This product complements the daily static maps that ISW-CTP produces with high-fidelity and, where possible, street-level assessments of the war in Israel.

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