BEIRUT: On Thursday, Israel launched bombs on Lebanon in response to two blast waves that attacked the nation’s communications infrastructure and left at least 37 people dead nationwide.
The Israeli military declared on Thursday that it had targeted six Hezbollah “infrastructure sites” as well as a facility in southern Lebanon where weapons were stored during the night.
The National News Agency of Lebanon also reported on Israeli shelling and strikes on a number of southern towns.
Meanwhile, when Hezbollah operatives’ handheld devices exploded twice in a row, terrified Lebanese have thrown power banks or gone to bed with their phones in another room.
After the devastating pager blasts, terrified citizens throw away their cellphones and power banks.
Social media went viral with horrific images of injured and bloodied people falling to the ground or lying in the street following shop blasts, shocking a lot of people in Lebanon.
Medical professionals in Lebanon reported to AFP of horrifying blast-related eye injuries and finger amputations.
Lebanese authorities forbade travelers departing from Beirut airport on Thursday from “bringing any pager or walkie-talkie device aboard aircraft.”
After the initial explosions on Wednesday, colleges and universities were shuttered; nevertheless, on Thursday, they reopened with a nervous crowd.
Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, declared in his first address following the assaults that his organization had been dealt a “unprecedented” setback.
Nasrallah declared that Israel would experience “tough retribution and a just punishment, where it expects it and where it does not,” calling the bombings a “massacre” and even a “act of war”.
Regarding the strikes that sent the nation into panic when walkie-talkies and pagers used by Hezbollah operatives exploded in stores, on the streets, and at funerals, Israel has not responded.
Until a cease-fire in Gaza is achieved, Nasrallah promised to maintain Hezbollah’s resistance against Israel.
He declared, “Despite all this blood spilled, the Lebanese front will not stop until the aggression on Gaza stops.”
The “blatant assault on Lebanon’s sovereignty and security,” according to Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, is a worrying move that might “signal a wider war.”
Ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on the attacks scheduled for this Friday, Prime Minister Najib Mikati asked the organization to reject Israel’s “technological war” on the nation.
The pledge of ongoing assistance was warmly received by Hamas, which declared that it “serves as a blow to (Israeli prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and his fascist government.”
Analysts speculated that before the pagers were sent to Hezbollah, explosives had probably been put in them.
A security officer revealed that the pagers had been booby-trapped based on the preliminary results of a Lebanese investigation.
The official, who asked to remain anonymous to discuss private topics, stated, “Data indicates the devices were pre-programmed to detonate and contained explosive materials planted next to the battery.”
