The Israeli military began striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Thursday, just as the movement’s leader was preparing to deliver a speech about the calamitous past few days.
Israeli jets were carrying out huge sonic booms over Beirut during the speech by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, a Reuters witness said.
Nasrallah declared that the widespread attacks on his group’s communications devices, which have been blamed on Israel, would be met with “just punishment”.
He also said Israel would not be able to return residents of its northern region, who have been displaced by 11 months of cross-border exchanges, to their homes through military escalation.
“No military escalation, no killings, no assassinations and no all-out war can return residents to the border,” he said.
Nasrallah also announced the launch of an internal investigation into the explosion of hundreds of communication devices used by group operatives across Lebanon.
The pager and walkie-talkie explosions on Tuesday and Wednesday killed 37 people and wounded nearly 3,000, raising fears that a full-blown war was imminent.
Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the unprecedented attacks, which dealt a huge blow to the powerful Iran-backed movement.
Lebanese residents, already on edge following the device explosions, were panicked by the new Israeli strikes, fearing a major escalation.
Israel also said its military chief of staff had approved plans for Israel’s north, which borders Lebanon.
The military said Hezbollah had turned southern Lebanon into a combat zone.
“For decades, Hezbollah has weaponised civilian homes, dug tunnels beneath them, and used civilians as human shields,” it said.
“The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is operating to bring security to northern Israel in order to enable the return of residents to their homes, as well as to achieve all of the war goals,” it said.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied being behind the device attacks but multiple security sources have said they were carried out by its spy agency Mossad.
In a related development, Lebanese authorities on Thursday banned walkie-talkies and pagers from being taken on flights from Beirut airport.
Such devices were also banned from being shipped by air, the Lebanese state news agency reported.
The Lebanese army said on Thursday it was blowing up pagers and suspicious telecom devices in controlled blasts in different areas. It called on citizens to report any suspicious devices.
Israeli jets were carrying out huge sonic booms over Beirut during the speech by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, a Reuters witness said.
Nasrallah declared that the widespread attacks on his group’s communications devices, which have been blamed on Israel, would be met with “just punishment”.
He also said Israel would not be able to return residents of its northern region, who have been displaced by 11 months of cross-border exchanges, to their homes through military escalation.
“No military escalation, no killings, no assassinations and no all-out war can return residents to the border,” he said.
Nasrallah also announced the launch of an internal investigation into the explosion of hundreds of communication devices used by group operatives across Lebanon.
The pager and walkie-talkie explosions on Tuesday and Wednesday killed 37 people and wounded nearly 3,000, raising fears that a full-blown war was imminent.
Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the unprecedented attacks, which dealt a huge blow to the powerful Iran-backed movement.
Lebanese residents, already on edge following the device explosions, were panicked by the new Israeli strikes, fearing a major escalation.
Israel also said its military chief of staff had approved plans for Israel’s north, which borders Lebanon.
The military said Hezbollah had turned southern Lebanon into a combat zone.
“For decades, Hezbollah has weaponised civilian homes, dug tunnels beneath them, and used civilians as human shields,” it said.
“The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is operating to bring security to northern Israel in order to enable the return of residents to their homes, as well as to achieve all of the war goals,” it said.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied being behind the device attacks but multiple security sources have said they were carried out by its spy agency Mossad.
In a related development, Lebanese authorities on Thursday banned walkie-talkies and pagers from being taken on flights from Beirut airport.
Such devices were also banned from being shipped by air, the Lebanese state news agency reported.
The Lebanese army said on Thursday it was blowing up pagers and suspicious telecom devices in controlled blasts in different areas. It called on citizens to report any suspicious devices.
