Hezbollah leader says pager attack crossed ‘red line’ as wider war fears mount

The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said Israel targeted thousands of pagers and detonated them at the same time, crossing a “red line”.

Hassan Nasrallah said the group has formed committees to investigate how the attack over two days that wounded thousands happened. Nasrallah added that Hezbollah was subjected to an unprecedented blow.

But he vowed the group would emerge stronger and continue its daily strikes into northern Israel.

As he spoke Israel said two of its soldiers were killed by the latest Hezbollah strikes across the Lebanon border.

“Yes, we were subjected to a huge and severe blow,” Nasrallah said describing the past two days as harsh. He vowed Hezbollah would get over the blow.

Nasrallah said: “The enemy crossed all boundaries and red lines. Some of the explosions took place in hospitals, pharmacies, clinics, homes, cars and streets where many civilians are present.”

Nasrallah added that as a result of “this aggression dozens were killed including women and children and thousands were wounded”.

“When they detonated all these pagers their aim was to kill 4,000 human beings at the same time.

“This was the intention of the enemy and the level of crime they have reached,” he said.

“Over two days and in one minute on Tuesday and in one minute on Wednesday the Israeli enemy was aiming to kill 5,000 in two minutes without any boundaries,” Nasrallah said.

“We will call them the massacres of Tuesday and Wednesday,” he said.

As Nasrallah spoke in a televised speech from an unknown location, Hezbollah and the Israeli military traded new strikes over the border.

Israeli war planes flew low over Beirut and broke the sound barrier, sending birds flying in panic and people in their houses and offices rushing to open the windows to avoid the glass shattering.

Fears are rising that 11 months of exchanges of fire between the two sides will escalate into all-out war, particularly after this week’s unprecedented bombings around Lebanon and in Syria, detonating hundreds of pagers and walkie talkies used by Hezbollah.

At least 37 people were killed and some 3,000 wounded in the explosions, which appeared to be the culmination of a monthslong operation by Israel to target as many Hezbollah members as possible all at once but also hit civilians.

The attack came as Israeli leaders have warned that they could launch a stepped-up military operation against Hezbollah, saying they are determined to stop the group’s fire to allow tens of thousands of Israelis to return to homes near the border

He vowed that Hezbollah will keep going on with its attacks along the border with Israel as long as the war in Gaza continues.

“The Lebanese front will not stop before the aggression on Gaza stops,” he said.

Speaking to Israeli troops on Wednesday, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said: “We are at the start of a new phase in the war — it requires courage, determination and perseverance.”

He made no mention of the exploding devices but praised the work of Israel’s army and security agencies, saying “the results are very impressive”.

Mr Gallant said that after months of fighting Hamas in Gaza, “the centre of gravity is shifting to the north by diverting resources and forces.”

Hezbollah said earlier on Thursday it had targeted three military positions in northern Israel near the border, two of them with drones.

The Israeli military said the drones crashed near communities. Hospitals reported they treated at least eight patients lightly or moderately injured. The military said early on Thursday it had struck several militant sites in southern Lebanon overnight.

The volley of strikes was a signal by Hezbollah that it would continue its near daily fire, which it says is a show of support for Hamas. Israel’s 11-month-old war with Hamas in Gaza began after its militants led the October 7 attack on Israel.

Israel has responded to Hezbollah’s fire with strikes in southern Lebanon, and has struck senior figures from the group in the capital Beirut. The exchanges have killed hundreds in Lebanon and dozens in Israel and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents on each side of the border.

Israel and Hezbollah have repeatedly pulled back from an all-out war under heavy pressure from the United States, France and other countries.

But in their recent warnings, Israeli leaders have said they are determined to change the status quo dramatically.

Israel began moving more troops to its border with Lebanon on Wednesday as a precautionary measure, Israeli officials said. Israel’s army chief, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, said plans have been drawn up for additional action against Hezbollah, though media reported the government has not yet decided whether to launch a major offensive in Lebanon.

Lebanon is still reeling from the deadly device attacks of Tuesday and Wednesday.

The explosions have rattled anxious Lebanese fearing a full-scale war. The Lebanese Army said it has been locating and detonating suspicious pagers and communication devices, while the country’s civil aviation authorities banned pagers and walkie-talkies on all airplanes departing from Beirut’s international airport until further notice.

The attack was likely to severely disrupt Hezbollah’s internal communication as it scrambles to determine safe means to talk to each other.

Hezbollah announced the death of five combatants on Thursday, but did not specify if they were killed in the explosions or on the front lines.

The blasts went off wherever the holders of the pagers or walkie-talkies happened to be in multiple parts of Beirut and eastern and southern Lebanon — in homes and cars, grocery stores and cafes and on the street, even at a funeral for some killed in the bombings, often with family and other bystanders nearby.

Many suffered gaping wounds on their legs, abdomens and faces or were maimed in the hand. Tuesday’s pager blasts killed 12 people, including two children, and wounded some 2,300 others. The following day’s explosion killed 25 and wounded more than 600, Health Minister Firas Abiad said, giving updated figures.

Mr Abiad told reporters that Wednesday’s injuries were more severe than the previous day as walkie-talkies that exploded were bigger than the pagers. He praised Lebanon’s hospitals, saying they had managed to deal with the flood of wounded within hours.

“It was an indiscriminate attack. It was a war crime,” he said.