BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, Sept 19 (Askume) – The leader of the heavily armed, Iran-backed Lebanese movement said on Thursday that Hezbollah’s radios and pagers had been blown up in deadly Israeli strikes that crossed all red lines. He delivered a speech as buildings in Beirut shook with the roar of Israeli warplanes.
Lebanon and Hezbollah accuse Israel of attacking Hezbollah communications equipment, killing 37 people, wounding nearly 3,000, seizing Lebanese hospitals and wreaking havoc on the armed group.
Israel has not commented directly on the attacks, but security sources said they were likely carried out by its Mossad spy agency, which has a long history of carrying out sophisticated attacks on foreign soil.
“There is no doubt that we are facing a major security and military shock that is unprecedented in the history of the resistance and in Lebanon,” Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech filmed at an undisclosed location.
“This type of killing, targeting and crime is probably unprecedented in the world,” he said, appearing in front of a red backdrop wearing a traditional black turban.
He said the attack “crossed all red lines”. “The enemy is beyond all control, law and morality,” he said, adding that the attacks “could be considered a war crime or a declaration of war.”
On the radio, the deafening sound of Israeli warplanes rocked Beirut, a sound that has become common in recent months but has taken on even greater importance as fears of war grow. Israel said its warplanes attacked southern Lebanon overnight. Hezbollah was reported to have resumed air strikes on border areas in the afternoon.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said on Thursday that Israel would continue military operations against Hezbollah.
“This new phase of the war brings important opportunities, but also significant risks,” Galante said in a statement. Hezbollah feels it is being persecuted and military operations will continue.
Galante said, “Our goal is to ensure the safe return of northern Israeli communities to their homes. As time goes on, Hezbollah will pay an increasing price.”
Nasrallah said Hezbollah hoped Israeli forces would move into southern Lebanon because it would create a “historic opportunity” for the Iranian-backed group.
He said no military escalation, assassination, massacre or all-out war would result in the return of Israeli settlers to the border areas.
Nasrallah described the attack as unprecedented and accused Israel of trying to kill 5,000 people, but he downplayed the attack’s impact on Hezbollah, saying the group’s structure had not been shaken.
“Yes, we suffered a major and serious setback, but that is the nature of war,” Nasrallah said. “We know that our enemies have superiority at the technological level and we have never said anything to the contrary.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard commander Hossein Salami told Nasrallah on Thursday that Israel would “face a harsh response from the axis of resistance,” state media reported.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking in Paris, urged all sides to exercise restraint and said he did not want to see any moves by either side to make a ceasefire in Gaza more difficult.
The Israeli military said two Israeli soldiers were killed in a clash in the northern Israeli territory on Thursday. One of them was shot down by a drone and the other by an anti-tank missile fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon, the Israeli military’s N12 News reported.
Hezbollah’s attacks on communications equipment spread fear across Lebanon, with people abandoning their electronic devices for fear of bombs hidden in their pockets .
Army destroys pager in controlled explosion
Nasrallah said thousands of pagers were targeted simultaneously, with some explosions hitting hospitals, pharmacies, markets, shops and streets filled with civilians, women and children. “Through this operation, the enemy violated all laws and red lines,” he said.
On October 7, the day after a cross-border attack by the Palestinian armed organization Hamas, Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel, triggering the Gaza War and fighting has continued ever since. Although neither side allowed the incident to escalate into a full-scale war, it resulted in the evacuation of thousands of people from border areas on both sides.
The Israeli military said that “the Hezbollah terrorist group has turned southern Lebanon into a war zone” and that over the decades, Hezbollah has armed civilians’ homes, dug tunnels underneath them and used civilians as human shields.
A radio used by Lebanon’s Hezbollah exploded on Wednesday, killing 25 people and wounding hundreds.
A day earlier, hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah to evade cellphone surveillance exploded simultaneously, killing 12 people, including at least two children, and wounding more than 2,300 others.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on the United Nations Security Council to take a firm stance to stop Israel’s “aggression” and “technological warfare”.
Israel says the conflict with Hezbollah, like its war with Hamas in Gaza, is part of a broader regional confrontation with Iran, which supports both groups as well as armed movements in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
Also on Thursday, Israeli security forces said an Israeli businessman was arrested after attending at least two meetings in Iran last month in which he talked about assassinating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , the Defense Minister or the head of the Shin Bet spy agency.
Israel has been accused of several killings, including a bombing in Tehran in July that killed a Hamas leader and another in a Beirut suburb that killed a senior Hezbollah commander.
