3 months ago
13
Deadly Israeli attacks that blew up
Hezbollah
radios and pagers "crossed all red lines", the chief of the heavily armed Iran-backed Lebanese movement said Thursday, in a speech broadcast as sonic booms from Israeli warplanes shook buildings in Beirut.
Lebanon
and Hezbollah have blamed
Israel
for attacks on Hezbollah's communications equipment that killed 37 people and wounded around 3,000, overwhelming Lebanese hospitals.
Breaking down the toll, Lebanon health minister Firass Abiad said 25 people died and over 600 others were injured in the attack on walkie-talkies on Wednesday. A day earlier, an operation targeting thousands of Hezbollah-owned pagers killed 12 people and injured 2,300 people, Abiad said.
Israel has not directly commented on the attacks, which security sources say were probably carried out by its Mossad spy agency, which has a long history of carrying out sophisticated attacks on foreign soil.
'Unprecedented attack'
"There is no doubt that we have been subjected to a major security and military blow that is unprecedented," Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said in his TV address, filmed at an undisclosed location. "The enemy went beyond all controls, laws and morals," he said adding the attacks could be considered
war
crimes or a declaration of war. He said Israel would face "tough retribution, where it expects it and where it does not".
Israel, Hezbollah trade strikes
As the broadcast was aired, deafening sonic booms from Israeli warplanes shook Beirut, a sound that has become common in recent months but has taken on a greater significance as the threat of all-out war has steadily ramped up. The Israeli military said late Thursday that its warplanes struck dozens of Hezbollah targets, including rocket launchers and weapon depots in southern Lebanon. Defence minister Yoav Gallant said Israel will keep up military action against Hezbollah.
During Nasrallah's speech, Hezbollah struck at least four times in northern Israel, and two Israeli soldiers were killed in a strike early on Thursday.
Nasrallah plays down impact
Though accusing Israel of trying to kill 5,000 people in one go, Nasrallah also played down the impact on Hezbollah, saying the group's structure had not been shaken. "Yes, we received a big and harsh blow, but this is also the nature of war," he said. Nasrallah said the group is investigating the attack.
He said Hezbollah will continue its barrages into northern Israel as long as the war in Gaza continues, vowing that Israel will not be able to bring its people back to the border region - a new war goal of Tel Aviv.
Fear of electronic devices
The attacks sowed fear across Lebanon, with people abandoning electronic devices for fear of carrying bombs. Doctors told AFP of horrific eye injuries and finger amputations caused by the blasts.
