Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged for the first time on Sunday that he had given the green light to the pager attack which targeted Lebanese Hezbollah in September, his spokesperson, Omer Dostri, told AFP.
Booby-trapped transmission devices, such as pagers and walkie-talkies, used by Hezbollah members were exploded on September 17 and 18 in the southern suburbs of Beirut as well as in the south and east of Lebanon, strongholds of the movement. Islamist Hezbollah. These explosions left 39 dead and nearly 3,000 injured, according to the Lebanese authorities.
Speaking at the weekly Council of Ministers, Benjamin Netanyahu said he authorized this operationindicated Mr. Dostri, confirming information published in Israeli media. If this spectacular operation bore the mark of Mossad, the powerful Israeli foreign intelligence service, Israel has never openly claimed responsibility for it or commented on it.
In support of Palestinian Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah opened a front against Israel on October 8, 2023firing daily into Israeli territory from southern Lebanon.
These hostilities degenerated into open war on September 23 with a campaign of intense Israeli strikes, mainly against the strongholds of the Lebanese movement. On September 30, the Israeli army launched a ground offensive in Lebanon. More than 2,700 people have been killed in Lebanon since September 23, the majority civilians, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
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