Lebanon attacks: US warplanes ready after Hezbollah leader’s ‘red lines’ warning against Israel
Tensions are on the rise in the Middle East after at least 37 people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded after thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies exploded across Lebanon in deadly attacks in the past two days.
Among those killed were 25 members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. Hezbollah is an ally of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has been fighting a war in Gaza since its October 7 attack on Israel.
The group has blamed Israel for being behind the explosion of devices across Lebanon.
Here are latest updates Hezbollah-Israel conflict:
The Israeli Army on Thursday said it struck hundreds of targets in Lebanon as fears of full-scale war soared in the regions, reported Reuters.
The strikes hit “hundreds of rocket launcher barrels”, which Israel claimed were ready to be fired toward their country, as well as “approximately 100 launchers and additional terrorist infrastructure sites”.
Hezbollah has acknowledged that their group has suffered an “unprecedented” blow in the attack carried out through communication devices.
In his first speech since the attacks, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the pager and walkie-talkie attacks against its members in Lebanon and Syria crossed “all red lines” and the group will retaliate and is undeterred in its fight against Israel in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
Nasrallah described the attacks as a “massacre” and a possible “act of war”, adding that Tel Aviv would face “tough retribution and just punishment”. “The enemy went beyond all controls, laws and morals,” he said.
Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant has said that his country’s military actions against Lebanese militant group Hezbollah “will continue”.
“In the new phase of the war there are significant opportunities but also significant risks. Hezbollah feels persecuted. The sequence of our military actions will continue,” Gallant said in a statement.
The United States said that ahead of the explosion of pagers, Israel informed defense secretary Lloyd Austin that a military operation was going to take place in Lebanon but gave no details, reported AP.
Officials said the US did not get advance warning of the second wave of attacks, with walkie-talkie radios targeted on Wednesday.
The US has kept an increased military presence – about 40,000 forces, at least a dozen warships and four Air Force fighter jet squadrons – in the Middle East since last year. “We’re confident in the ability that we have there right now to protect our forces and should we need to come to the defense of Israel as well,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said on Thursday.