Hezbollah’s leader warned on Sept. 19 that remote attacks that have targeted pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon are tantamount to a “declaration of war.”
“There is no doubt that we have been subjected to a major security and military blow that is unprecedented in the history of the resistance and unprecedented in the history of Lebanon,” Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address.
He blamed Israel for the explosive attacks, saying, “This type of killing, targeting, and crime may be unprecedented in the world.”
Such attacks “crossed all red lines,” he said.
“The enemy went beyond all controls, laws, and morals,” he said.
In his address, which was filmed in front of an all-red background, Nasrallah did not indicate how Hezbollah would respond.
“I will not speak about time, or form, or place,” he stated.
Nasrallah said in his address that thousands of pagers have exploded, with some explosions occurring in hospitals, stores, and other public areas.
Iran, which has long been suspected of backing Hezbollah, responded to the widespread remote attacks in Lebanon as well, also blaming Israel. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was among those injured in this week’s explosions, state-run media said.
Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, said on Sept. 18 that the regime will respond to Amani’s injury in the explosive attacks.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will duly follow up on the attack against its ambassador in Lebanon, which resulted in his injury, and reserves its rights under international law to take required measures deemed necessary to respond to such a heinous crime and violation,” Iravani wrote, according to Iranian state-run media.
Lebanon’s government and Hezbollah, which is designated as a terrorist group by the United States, have blamed Israel for attacks on the group’s communications equipment.
The attacks killed 37 people and wounded about 3,000, Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said on Sept. 19, overwhelming Lebanese hospitals and wreaking havoc on the terror group.
Israeli officials have not directly remarked on the attacks and have not said whether Israel’s military was involved.
Without remarking on the pager and walkie-talkie attacks, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Sept. 19 that Jerusalem will keep up its pressure on Hezbollah, nearly two months after the terrorist organization launched rocket attacks in the Golan Heights that left about a dozen civilians dead.
“In the new phase of the war, there are significant opportunities but also significant risks. Hezbollah feels that it is being persecuted and the sequence of military actions will continue,” Gallant said in a statement, adding that Hezbollah “will pay an increasing price” as Israel seeks to achieve its goals, including “the safe return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes.”
On Sept. 19, Blinken told reporters in Paris that he is calling for restraint on both sides, adding that he did not want to see any escalatory actions by any party that would make a Gaza cease-fire deal even more difficult.
Two Israeli soldiers were killed and several others wounded on Sept. 19 in Israel’s north, the Israeli military said. Israel’s N12 News said one of the slain soldiers was killed by an explosive-laden drone and the other by an anti-tank missile fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon.
In a statement on Sept. 18, the office of U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres also called on both sides to exercise restraint following the pager detonations, to “avert any further escalation.”
“Obviously, the logic of making all these devices explode is to do it as a preemptive strike before a major military operation,” Guterres told reporters ahead of the annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly.
Slovenian U.N. Ambassador Samuel Zbogar, the current president of the Security Council, told reporters this week that the council will hold an emergency meeting on Sept. 20 regarding the pager blasts.
