Israel focuses on the north as tensions rise after Hezbollah – National’s pager explodes
Hezbollah fired fresh fire into northern Israel on Thursday, continuing its drumbeat of negotiations with the Israeli army as a major conflict flared up after an explosion of electronic equipment in Lebanon killed at least 32 people and injured more than 3,000.
The explosion appeared to be the culmination of a months-long Israeli operation to target multiple Hezbollah members at once. In two days, pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah exploded, wounding and maiming some fighters, but also maiming civilians connected to the group’s social branches and killing at least two children.
It was not clear how the attack coincided with warnings by Israeli leaders in recent weeks that they might launch a military campaign against Hezbollah, Lebanon’s most powerful armed group. The Israeli government has said its goal is to end the Iranian-backed fighting to allow tens of thousands of Israelis to return to homes near the border.
Speaking to the Israeli military on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, “We are at the beginning of a new phase of war – it requires courage, determination and patience.” He did not mention explosive weapons but praised the work of the Israeli army and security agencies, saying “the results are very good.”
Gallant said that after months of fighting with Hamas in Gaza, “the center of gravity is shifting to the north by diverting resources and energy.”
Hezbollah said earlier Thursday it was targeting military positions in northern Israel, without specifying what weapons it had used. Israeli hospitals reported treating at least eight patients injured in the attack. The army said early Thursday that it had attacked several terrorist positions in southern Lebanon overnight.
The spate of strikes was a sign by Hezbollah that it will continue its near-daily fire, which it says is a show of support for Hamas during Israel’s 11-month-old campaign in Gaza to avenge the October 7 Palestinian terrorist attack on Israel.
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Israel has responded to Hezbollah’s fire with strikes in southern Lebanon, and also attacked the group’s officials in the capital Beirut. The trade has killed hundreds in Lebanon and dozens in Israel and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents on each side of the border.
Israel and Hezbollah have repeatedly withdrawn from the endless war under great pressure from the United States, France and other countries.
But in their latest warnings, Israeli leaders have said they are determined to change the status quo.
Israel began moving more troops to its border with Lebanon on Wednesday as a precautionary measure, Israeli officials said. The chief of the Israeli army, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said plans have been made to take more measures against Hezbollah, although the media reported that the government has not yet decided whether to launch a major attack in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Lebanon was reeling from the unprecedented bombings that took place on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The explosions have calmed Lebanese fears of full-scale war. The Lebanese Army said it had been finding and detonating suspicious pagers and communications equipment, while the country’s aviation authorities have banned pagers and walkie-talkies from all flights departing from Beirut’s international airport until further notice.
The attack is likely to seriously disrupt Hezbollah’s internal communications as it scrambles to find secure means of communication. Hezbollah announced the death of five soldiers today, but did not specify whether they were killed in the explosion or in the front.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was due to speak later on Thursday as the group vowed revenge against Israel.
These explosions went off wherever the owners of pagers or walkie-talkies were located in many parts of Beirut and east and south Lebanon – in houses and cars, in food shops and restaurants and on the street, even at the funeral of some of the killed. bombings, usually with family and other close people.
Many had open wounds on their legs, stomachs and faces or injured their hands. On Tuesday, a pager explosion killed 12 people, including two children, and injured about 2,800 others. The next day’s explosion killed 20 and injured more than 450.
Health Minister Firas Abiad praised Lebanon’s hospitals, saying they were able to deal with the floods and the injured in a few hours. “It was an indiscriminate attack. It was a war crime,” he said.
Mary Ellen O’Connell, a professor of law and international peace studies at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, said booby-traps are prohibited under international law. “It is absolutely forbidden to arm people with weapons,” he said.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
