Hezbollah and Israel trade fresh fire on Lebanon border after pagers explode, fueling fears of wider war

A powerful group backed by Iran Hezbollah continued to attack what it called military targets in northern Israel on Thursday after thousands of its members were injured and several killed in an apparent attack. Israeli operation using explosive pagers and other communication devices. The Israel Defense Forces said it was hitting Hezbollah targets in Lebanon “to reduce the level of terrorism and Hezbollah’s infrastructure.”

“The terrorist organization Hezbollah has turned southern Lebanon into a battlefield. For decades, Hezbollah has been arming people’s homes, digging tunnels under them, and using civilians as human shields,” the IDF statement said. “The IDF is working to bring security to northern Israel so that the citizens can return home, and to achieve all the objectives of the war.”

The IDF said a few hours later that the Israeli Air Force “hit hundreds of ready-to-use rocket launchers in Israeli territory. As of this afternoon, the IAF hit about 100 explosive devices and additional terrorist infrastructure.”

Hezbollah had already vowed to retaliate against Israel by firing weapons, and the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, speaking on Thursday, accused Israel of crossing “red lines” with its actions, which he said were tantamount to declaring war.

Israeli officials they have not publicly faced the explosions, which have killed at least 32 people and injured about 3,000, according to health officials in Lebanon.

U.S. officials said the U.S. government and military had no role in the missile attack, but CBS News has learned that the U.S. received warheads from Israel about 20 minutes before the operation began in Lebanon on Tuesday, although there were no specifics. the methods to be used are shared.

US officials said on Wednesday that the Biden administration does not believe that a full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah is inevitable, but it remains unclear how important Hezbollah’s retaliation is in the coming days.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday his country’s war with Iran’s so-called proxy groups in the region had entered a “new phase,” announcing a return to northern Israel after 11 months of conflict. Conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“The center of gravity is moving north through energy and resources,” Gallant said.

The Israel Defense Forces moved the 98th Division – made up of several commando brigades – to northern Israel on Wednesday, a US official and another source familiar with the matter told CBS News. The group had been fighting in Gaza.

“We are at the beginning of a new phase of the war,” Gallant said Wednesday, adding that it will require “courage, determination and patience.”

Shortly after Hamas began the ongoing war in Gaza with its attack on October 7, its Hezbollah allies began firing rockets and drones at Israel from their strongholds across the border in southern Lebanon. Since then, Hezbollah and the Israeli army have exchanged fire almost daily, forcing tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border to flee their homes.

“We are all feeling stressed because of this situation. We are not breathing,” Sarit Zehavi, an Israeli researcher who worked for 15 years in Israeli military intelligence and lives in northern Israel, told CBS News.

“On October 8, the war started here, with Hezbollah,” Zehavi said. “Anti-tank missiles and drones through IDF positions at first, but very quickly, it deteriorates more than that.”

What is the history of the Israel-Lebanon border?

Israel and Lebanon are not separated by a common border, but by a “line of withdrawal” known as the Blue Line, which was established when Israeli forces withdrew from a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Lebanon in 2000. “safe zone” to prevent attacks by Palestinian groups and Hezbollah on Israeli residents living in the border area.

The Blue Line is recognized by Lebanon and Israel, and is monitored by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the Lebanese army.

When war broke out again between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, a new UN Security Council Resolution called for an end to hostilities and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon. It also sought to check the extent of Hezbollah’s power, stressing the importance of the Lebanese government to exercise “its full sovereignty, so that there are no weapons without the permission of the Government of Lebanon and no authority other than that of the Government of Lebanon. .”

Iran-backed Hezbollah has been able to maintain its influence inside Lebanon and build up its arsenal, however, including dozens of rockets, drones and missiles.

“The truth is, before October 7, there was a risk, but Israel always thought it was done,” Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at the global news think tank Chatham House, told the -CBS. News. “What was done on October 7, I think that Israel and the Israelis, wakes them up, you know, that they are safe and secure. So going back to October 6 without changing the balance of power on the borders of Israel and inside Israel seems which is hard to do.”

“They are launched against everything,” Zehavi told CBS News of Hezbollah’s attacks in Israel since October 7. “Sometimes tanks, and sometimes homes. Sometimes farmers, and sometimes soldiers, and people are killed. “

Tens of thousands of people were left homeless

Zehavi said about 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from their homes near the Lebanese border amid ongoing violence since October 7, creating “ghost towns” in 43 communities there.

The residents “left their homes at the beginning of the war because they were afraid of the Radwan Brigades, which is a special group of Hezbollah, and we were afraid that they would attack, like Hamas,” Zehavi said.

Then there are areas a little further away – between two and six miles from the border – where people are still being attacked by Hezbollah but are staying in their homes.

“Most of the fire is directed at the evacuated communities, but I can tell you that… since June, about 15% of the attacks from Lebanon are going to the evacuees,” Zehavi said.

He said Hezbollah’s rockets were easy for Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system to fire, but the group’s planes were sometimes able to bypass air defense systems and kill people. Anti-tank missiles are the most dangerous type of attack, Zehavi said, because there is no warning and nothing can be done to defend against them.

“They can’t be caught at all. And we don’t have an answer to these. You only have a few seconds. You don’t have warnings. They are just launched and they are hit and they are very accurate because Hezbollah has advanced anti-tank missiles,” said Zehavi.

Zehavi said that even if there is a ceasefire reached between Israel and Hamas that brings an end to the current conflict with Hezbollah, the threat of the Lebanese group will remain.

“I don’t think that Hezbollah is interested in a wide-scale attack now, but I think that the basic purpose of Hezbollah is to carry out this kind of attack when it is free for them,” Zehavi said.

After October 7, he said that Hezbollah “lost the element of surprise, because the IDF is prepared here. But imagine that we will have an end of weapons… People will return to the communities – there will be nothing left, communities. near the border.”

“If Hezbollah will attack,” he said, “the success will be great, and they will be able to kill many civilians. The IDF will not be able to draft these reservists [currently guarding the border region] forever.”

“The problem,” said Chatham House’s Vikal, “is that Israel’s leaders are not taking real steps that could change the balance of power,” pointing to Israel’s continued occupation of some Palestinian land and their calls for an independent state as what “gives breath and strength to the movement.”

“If [Israel] they’re starting to think seriously about deflating the balloon and dealing with their domestic security problem – not just through military means – but through responsible governance and the peace process, that would be the most deterrent way to protect their security, you know. , Hamas or Hezbollah or even Iran,” Vikal said.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Dannon, asked about a possible escalation on the Israel-Lebanon border, told CBS News in August that “we cannot continue with this situation” as more Israelis are forced from their homes.

“So are they [Hezbollah fighters] “We’re going to move away from the border, or we’re going to have to move,” Dannon said.

“We all feel that, we all feel that we have no hope,” said Zehavi from his home in northern Israel. “We don’t know where this is going. The level of uncertainty is very high. We don’t know if this will escalate into a full-scale war tomorrow…because none of these issues have been resolved.”

Margaret Brennan contributed to this report.