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September 20, 2024 – 01:47
(Keystone-ATS) The leader of Hezbollah acknowledged Thursday that the Lebanese Shiite group had suffered an “unprecedented” blow, following the deadly explosions of its transmission devices in Lebanon. He promised a “terrible” response to this attack, which he attributes to Israel.
Israel will receive “a terrible punishment and a just retribution,” Hassan Nasrallah warned in a televised speech, announcing the opening of an internal investigation into the explosions that killed 37 people and injured nearly 3,000 on Tuesday and Wednesday, exacerbating fears of a full-scale war in the Middle East.
Israel has not commented on the attack, which came just after the Jewish state announced it was extending its war aims in Gaza against the Palestinian Hamas to the border with Lebanon to allow the return home of residents of the north of the country, displaced by the almost daily cross-border clashes since October between Hezbollah and the Israeli army.
Air raids
“You will not be able to bring the people of the north” back home, the Hezbollah leader retorted, addressing Israeli leaders. “Lebanon’s front with Israel will remain open until the end of the aggression in Gaza,” Hassan Nasrallah continued. Hamas said it was “very grateful” for this support.
Since Thursday morning, Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for at least 17 attacks against 14 Israeli military positions.
On the Israeli side, the army announced the death of two soldiers “fallen in combat” in northern Israel. It announced new strikes on Thursday evening, targeting a hundred rocket launchers and Hezbollah infrastructure sites. Military operations against Hezbollah “will continue,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Thursday evening.
According to the Lebanese news agency Ani, a “hostile drone” flew over several areas of southern Lebanon in the evening, broadcasting “inciting speeches” against the Hezbollah leader and accusing him of “causing total destruction.”
Pagers and walkie-talkies prohibited
On Tuesday, simultaneous explosions of pagers, a radio paging system used by Hezbollah, occurred in its strongholds in the southern suburbs of Beirut as well as in southern and eastern Lebanon, killing 12 and injuring hundreds, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
The following day, a second wave of explosions, this time targeting walkie-talkies, killed 25 people, according to the ministry, bringing the number of victims over two days to 37 dead and 2,931 injured.
Israel’s defense minister said Wednesday that the “center of gravity” of the war was shifting “northward,” where deadly firefights with Hezbollah have displaced tens of thousands of residents on both sides of the border with Lebanon.
The main objectives displayed so far by Israel have been the destruction of Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, and the return of the hostages held in the Palestinian territory.
“We are carrying out our tasks simultaneously” in the north and the south, Mr. Gallant stressed, referring to Gaza, and “our task is clear: to ensure the safe return of the inhabitants of the north to their homes.”
Pre-programmed devices
According to a Lebanese security official, “the devices [de transmission du Hezbollah] were pre-programmed to explode and contained explosive materials.” A preliminary investigation by Lebanese authorities shows that the devices that exploded were booby-trapped before entering the country, according to a letter from the Lebanese mission to the UN seen by AFP on Thursday.
The head of Lebanese diplomacy, Abdallah Bou Habib, announced the filing of a complaint with the UN Security Council following “the Israeli cyberterrorist aggression which constitutes a war crime.”
Turkey accused “Israel of extending the war to Lebanon”, the UN and Washington warned against an “escalation”, while London expressed its “deep concern” at the “rising tensions”.
The Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army, have promised “a crushing response from the resistance front,” which brings together armed formations in the region hostile to Israel.
Meanwhile, the war is relentless in Gaza, which is under siege and plunged into a major humanitarian crisis. According to the Gaza Civil Defense, five Palestinians were killed in a night strike in Gaza City, two others in the bombing of a house in Jabaliya (north).