LAST UPDATE | 3 hrs ago
THE HEZBOLLAH CHIEF has said that his group will not stop fighting Israel until the war in Gaza ends, as the death toll from explosives placed in the group’s devices rises to 37 people.
Pagers used by members of Hezbollah simultaneously exploded on Tuesday in a coordinated attack believed to have been orchestrated by Israel – which has not yet made any official comment – followed by a second round of explosions involving walkie-talkies yesterday. Nearly 3,000 people have been injured by the blasts.
Israel’s army has announced new strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, as warning sirens rang out in northern Israel, indicating possible incoming fire.
The army “is currently striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon to degrade Hezbollah’s terrorist capabilities and infrastructure,” a statement said, adding that it was part of efforts to return displaced Israelis to their homes in the north.
It also claimed that two drones had crossed from Lebanon to Israel last night and landed, with one starting a fire but causing no injuries.
In his first televised speech since the blasts, Hassan Nasrallah said: “With this operation, the enemy crossed all… red lines”.
The Hezbollah chief accused Israel of trying to “kill no fewer than 5,000 people” in “a major and unprecedented… blow” to the group.
Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier over Beirut as he spoke, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said, with AFP correspondents in Beirut hearing loud booms.
He said “the Lebanese front will not stop until the aggression on Gaza stops” despite “all this blood spilt”.
Nasrallah also announced an internal probe into the explosions, adding that Israel will face ”tough retribution and just punishment, where it expects it and where it does not”.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s Prime Minister called on the United Nations to oppose what he called Israel’s “technological war”.
Najib Mikati has said that a UN Security Council meeting tomorrow should “take a firm stance to stop the Israeli aggression on Lebanon and the technological war it is waging”.
The escalating conflict between Hezbollah and Israel is stoking fears of an all-out war erupting between the two sides.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin condemned the first round of explosions yesterday, saying the the “nature of that attack illustrates a disregard for the lives of people” and urging an end to the violence, stating: “We do not need a war in Lebanon.”
The White House has warned all sides against “an escalation of any kind”. US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters: “We don’t believe that the way to solve where we’re at in this crisis is by additional military operations at all.”
In Israel, left-leaning Haaretz newspaper wrote that the attacks have put Israel and Hezbollah “on the brink of all-out war”.
32 people have been confirmed dead and over 3,000 were injured across the two rounds of attacks.
Injuries reported by medics include damage to limbs and eyes, with some people requiring amputations and others losing their sight due to shrapnel.
One of the victims was the 10-year-old daughter of a Hezbollah member, who was killed in east Lebanon when her father’s pager exploded.
AFPTV footage shows people fleeing and trying to find cover when an explosion went off during a funeral for Hezbollah members in the capital city of Beirut yesterday afternoon.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said that the escalation in the region is “alarming” and accused Israel of trying to expand the war in Gaza into Israel.
Israel has continued to bombard Gaza, killing five people yesterday in a strike on a school building that Gaza’s civil defence agency says was being used as a shelter but the Israeli military claims was a Hamas compound.
At least 41,272 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, according to its health ministry.
Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has stayed silent on the device explosions but said yesterday in relation to the Israel-Lebanon border: “The centre of gravity is moving northward.”
Experts are trying to understand exactly how the explosives were places in the devices and reach the members of Hezbollah without the abnormality being detected.
Hezbollah had turned to using analogue devices instead of Lebanon’s state-run telecommunications, which it believes has been breached by Israel.
The pagers are used by combatants but also administrative and health workers.
The UN’s Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that civilian objects should not be weaponised, adding that the attacks pose a serious risk of escalating the conflict in the Middle East.
Similarly, Malaysia’s embassy in Beirut condemned the “weaponisation of communication devices”.
The Japanese company Icom has said that it had stopped producing the IC-V82 model of radios that were reportedly used in the latest blasts around a decade ago and that it has not been shipped from the company since then.
“The production of the batteries needed to operate the main unit has also been discontinued, and a hologram seal to distinguish counterfeit products was not attached, so it is not possible to confirm whether the product shipped from our company,” Icom said.
Additional reporting by AFP
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