Israel Pounds Lebanon as Hezbollah Vows Revenge for Device Blasts

AFP/APP

Beirut, Lebanon: Israel reported striking hundreds of targets in Lebanon, hours after Hezbollah’s leader vowed retaliation for two “unprecedented” attacks on its operatives’ communication devices.

Israel has yet to comment on the blasts, which targeted thousands of Hezbollah pagers and radios, killing 37 and injuring nearly 3,000 over two days. Iran-backed Hezbollah blamed Israel for the attacks.

In his first address following the sabotage, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah condemned the attacks as a “massacre” and a potential “act of war,” warning Israel of “tough retribution and just punishment” in both expected and unexpected ways. During Nasrallah’s televised speech, Israeli jets broke the sound barrier over Beirut. Later, Israel’s military confirmed that jets struck “approximately 100 launchers and additional terrorist infrastructure sites,” including roughly 1,000 barrels prepared for firing.

According to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency, Israel targeted southern Lebanon 52 times between 9 and 10 pm Hezbollah responded by launching 17 attacks on Israeli military sites in the north.

These escalations follow Israel’s announcement of shifting its war objectives to its northern border with Lebanon. For nearly a year, Israeli firepower has been concentrated on Hamas in Gaza, with additional near-daily clashes involving Hezbollah militants.

International mediators continue efforts to prevent a full-scale war between Israel and Lebanon while mitigating regional fallout from the Gaza conflict, initiated by Hamas’s October 7 assault on Israel. Hezbollah claims to be fighting in solidarity with Hamas, with Nasrallah confirming continued attacks on Israel for as long as the Gaza war persists.

The cross-border violence has claimed the lives of hundreds in Lebanon, mostly fighters, and dozens in Israel, including soldiers. Thousands of people on both sides have been forced to flee their homes.

During a visit to troops on Wednesday, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned that “Hezbollah will pay an increasing price” as Israel seeks to “ensure the safe return” of its citizens near the border. “We are at the start of a new phase in the war,” Gallant declared.

A Potential ‘Wider War’

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib condemned the “blatant assault on Lebanon’s sovereignty and security” and warned of the risk of a “wider war.”

In a UN Security Council meeting scheduled for Friday, Lebanon plans to file a complaint against what it called “Israel’s cyber-terrorist aggression,” amounting to a war crime.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned that Israel would face “a crushing response from the resistance front” in response to the blasts, which also injured Tehran’s ambassador to Beirut.

In efforts to de-escalate, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for restraint from all sides, emphasizing the need to avoid actions that could jeopardize the goal of a ceasefire in Gaza.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden continues to push for a diplomatic solution between Israel and Hezbollah, with his Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre noting that Biden believes such a solution is “achievable.”

Sabotaged at Source

Preliminary findings from a Lebanese investigation indicate that the pagers were booby-trapped before being imported into Lebanon. The Lebanese UN mission agreed, stating that the devices had been professionally sabotaged and triggered remotely via emails.

A source close to Hezbollah revealed that the pagers were recently imported and appeared to have been tampered with at their source.

The New York Times reported that the pagers were produced by Hungary-based BAC Consulting on behalf of Taiwanese manufacturer Gold Apollo. Intelligence officers suggest BAC was part of an Israeli front.

A government spokesperson in Budapest stated that BAC is a “trading intermediary,” with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary. Japanese company Icom, meanwhile, stated that it had stopped producing the radio models involved in the blasts a decade ago.