Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday that multiple waves of exploding electronic devices across Lebanon this week “crossed all red lines” and vowed “just punishment” against Israel, further raising fears of an all-out war between the two Middle Eastern powers and a wider regional conflict.
As Nasrallah spoke in his first public comments since the successive remote attacks killed a combined 37 people and wounded roughly 3,000 others, Israeli warplanes flew over the Lebanese capital Beirut, creating sonic booms and shaking buildings in a show of force.
Hezbollah and Israeli forces meanwhile continued their daily cross-border strikes that have lasted throughout Israel’s 11-month conflict with Hamas in Gaza, which Hezbollah is seeking to end.
Two Israeli soldiers were killed in combat on Thursday in Israel’s north, the Israeli military said.
But Nasrallah, in a televised address broadcast from an undisclosed location, vowed further retaliation in response to the widespread bombings, which have been blamed on Israel’s Mossad spy agency.
“The enemy will face a severe and just punishment from where they expect and don’t expect,” Nasrallah said.
'Declaration of war'
Over two days, pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah detonated, wounding and even crippling some fighters, but also maiming civilians connected to the group’s social branches and killing at least two children.
The attacks came as Israeli leaders have warned that they could launch a stepped-up military operation against Hezbollah, saying they are determined to stop the group’s fire to allow tens of thousands of Israelis to return to homes near the border.
The attacks “crossed all red lines,” Nasrallah said.
“The enemy went beyond all controls, laws and morals,” he said, adding the attacks “could be considered war crimes or a declaration or war, they could be called anything and they deserve to be called anything. Of course that was the intention of the enemy.”
He also vowed his militant group’s strikes on northern Israel “will not stop before the aggression on Gaza stops.”
Nasrallah also said Hezbollah hoped Israeli troops would enter southern Lebanon because that would create a “historic opportunity” for the Iran-backed group.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Commander Hossein Salami told Nasrallah on Thursday Israel will face “a crushing response from the axis of resistance,” according to state media. Iran is also aligned with Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen, as well as other Islamist militant groups.
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While Nasrallah spoke, Hezbollah announced at least four strikes in northern Israel, while Israeli strikes were reported in southern Lebanon. Earlier Thursday, Hezbollah said it had targeted three Israeli military positions near the border, two of them with drones. Israeli hospitals reported eight people lightly or moderately injured.
Overnight, the Israeli military said it struck several militant sites in southern Lebanon.
The sonic booms created by Israeli fighter jets over Beirut have become common in recent months as the conflict escalates, but was notable this time for the timing during Nasrallah’s address.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said late on Thursday that Israel will keep up military action against Hezbollah.
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“In the new phase of the war there are significant opportunities but also significant risks. Hezbollah feels that it is being persecuted and the sequence of military actions will continue,” Gallant said in a statement.
“Our goal is to ensure the safe return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes. As time goes by, Hezbollah will pay an increasing price,” Gallant said.
Israel began moving more troops to its border with Lebanon on Wednesday as a precautionary measure, Israeli officials said. Israel’s army chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said plans have been drawn up for additional action against Hezbollah, though media reported the government has not yet decided whether to launch a major offensive in Lebanon.
“The Hezbollah terrorist organization has turned southern Lebanon into a combat zone. For decades, Hezbollah has weaponized civilian homes, dug tunnels beneath them, and used civilians as human shields,” Israel’s military said.
“The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) is operating to bring security to northern Israel in order to enable the return of residents to their homes, as well as to achieve all of the war goals.”
Also on Thursday, Israeli security forces said that an Israeli businessman had been arrested last month after attending at least two meetings in Iran where he discussed assassinating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the defense minister or the head of the Shin Bet spy agency.
Fear of more explosions
Tuesday’s pager blasts killed 12 people, including two children, and wounded some 2,300 others. The following day’s explosion killed 25 and wounded more than 600, Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad said, giving updated figures.
Abiad told reporters that Wednesday’s injuries were more severe than the previous day as walkie-talkies that exploded were bigger than the pagers. He praised Lebanon’s hospitals, saying they had managed to deal with the flood of wounded within hours.
“It was an indiscriminate attack. It was a war crime,” he said.
More funerals for Hezbollah fighters killed in the attacks were held Thursday. One of the explosions Wednesday occurred near the funeral for victims of Tuesday’s bombings.
The attacks sowed fear across Lebanon, with people abandoning electronic devices for fear of carrying bombs in their pockets.
“Who can even secure their phone now? When I heard about what happened yesterday, I left my phone on my motorcycle and walked away,” Mustafa Sibal told Reuters in Beirut.
The Lebanese army said on Thursday it was blowing up pagers and suspicious telecom devices in controlled blasts in different areas. It called on citizens to report any suspicious devices.
Lebanese authorities banned walkie-talkies and pagers from being taken on flights from Beirut airport until further notice, the National News Agency reported. Such devices were also banned from being shipped by air.
International concern grows
Despite the events of the past few days, a spokesperson for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon said the situation along the frontier had “not changed much in terms of exchanges of fire between the parties.”
“There was an intensification last week. This week it is more or less the same. There are still exchanges of fire. It is still worrying, still concerning, and the rhetoric is high,” the spokesperson, Andrea Tenenti, said.
The attacks came on the eve of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on the United Nations Security Council to take a firm stand to stop what he called Israel’s “aggression” and “technological war” against his country.
The United States has refused to comment on whether Israel is responsible for the bombings or if it has had any communications with Israel. U.S. and allied regional diplomats have been seeking to resolve the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict for months but with little success, and Gaza ceasefire talks have effectively stalled.
Speaking in Paris, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged restraint, adding he did not want to see any escalatory actions by any party that make a Gaza ceasefire deal even more difficult.
On Thursday, Global Affairs Canada recirculated its statement from the summer urging Canadians in Lebanon to leave immediately while commercial flights remain available.
—With files from the Associated Press and Reuters
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