Remote attacks push Hezbollah and Israel to the brink of war

Agencies Beirut: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday that Israel’s deadly pager and hand-held radio attacks that targeted his fighters across Lebanon amounted to a “declaration of war,” calling it a “ terrorist act” against his people. In a highly anticipated speech, Nasrallah said this week’s attacks were a genocide and a war crime against Lebanon in addition to a declaration of war. “You can call it anything, and it deserves to be called anything,” he said, adding later that “some people might go further and say this was an introduction, and hours later, there will be a large scale military operation.

This is up for debate.” As Nasrallah was speaking, Israeli fighter jets struck south Lebanon, the Israeli military said. Israel has not publicly commented on the pager and hand-held radio explosions, which killed more than 30 people and wounded thousands of others Tuesday and Wednesday in Lebanon, but reports indicate Israeli officials were behind the attacks. According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, at least 37 people have been killed and some 3,000 injured across the country in the series of explosions that involved pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah. Hezbollah is an ally of Palestinian militant group Hamas, which on October 7 launched an unprecedented attack on Israel that sparked Gaza’s deadliest ever war. Up until now, the focus of Israel’s firepower had been on Gaza. But Israel’s northern border with Lebanon has seen exchanges of fire between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants almost every day since October.

The violence has killed hundreds of people, mostly fighters, on the Lebanese side, and dozens on the Israeli side. Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier over Beirut as Nasrallah spoke, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said, with AFP correspondents in Beirut reporting loud booms. The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has emphasised the need to prevent actions that could escalate tensions in the Middle East.