The leader of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Islamist movement targeted by the pager attack, will speak on Thursday

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah will deliver a speech on Thursday, the Lebanese Islamist movement said on Wednesday, September 18, after the explosion of pagers used by members of the pro-Iranian group. The attack left at least nine dead and 2,800 injured, including Hezbollah members. Hassan Nasrallah will speak on Thursday at 5 p.m. (4 p.m. in Paris) about the “latest developments”Hezbollah said in a statement. Follow our live feed.

Hezbollah has no intention of laying down its arms. The Islamist movement said on Wednesday that it “will continue” its support operations in Gaza, despite the deadly wave of pager explosions that targeted it on Tuesday and which it blames on Israel. This attack left at least nine dead and 2,800 injured, including members of Hezbollah. The Shiite movement specified, in a statement published on Telegram, that this support for the Palestinians would be “[distinct] of the difficult assessment that the criminal enemy [Israël] must wait for his Tuesday massacre”. Israel has not yet reacted.

A Taiwanese company denies manufacturing the pagers. Taiwanese company Gold Apollo on Wednesday denied reports that it manufactured the pagers that exploded. “These are not our products”company director Hsu Chin-kuang told reporters in Taipei, responding to reports from the New York Times.

Four Israeli soldiers killed. They died in fighting in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the Israeli army said on Wednesday. Six other soldiers were wounded, three of them seriously. The four soldiers were aged between 20 and 23, the army said in a brief statement, adding that a female medic was among the dead.

Antony Blinken’s quick visit to Cairo. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Cairo early Wednesday for a whirlwind visit to his Egyptian ally. The top US diplomat is due to meet with Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and co-chair a meeting of the “strategic dialogue” between the United States and Egypt, according to the State Department. “We are engaged, we continue to be engaged with the two other mediators in the conflict, Egypt and Qatar”said the US State Department spokesman.