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

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said Israel targeted thousands of pagers and detonated them at the same time&comma; crossing a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;red line”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Hassan Nasrallah said the group has formed committees to investigate how the attack over two days that wounded thousands happened&period; Nasrallah added that Hezbollah was subjected to an unprecedented blow&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But he vowed the group would emerge stronger and continue its daily strikes into northern Israel&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As he spoke Israel said two of its soldiers were killed by the latest Hezbollah strikes across the Lebanon border&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Yes&comma; we were subjected to a huge and severe blow&comma;” Nasrallah said describing the past two days as harsh&period; He vowed Hezbollah would get over the blow&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Nasrallah said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The enemy crossed all boundaries and red lines&period; Some of the explosions took place in hospitals&comma; pharmacies&comma; clinics&comma; homes&comma; cars and streets where many civilians are present&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Nasrallah added that as a result of &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;this aggression dozens were killed including women and children and thousands were wounded”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;When they detonated all these pagers their aim was to kill 4&comma;000 human beings at the same time&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This was the intention of the enemy and the level of crime they have reached&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Over two days and in one minute on Tuesday and in one minute on Wednesday the Israeli enemy was aiming to kill 5&comma;000 in two minutes without any boundaries&comma;” Nasrallah said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We will call them the massacres of Tuesday and Wednesday&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;184425" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-184425" style&equals;"width&colon; 640px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;09&sol;IMG&lowbar;6330&period;webp" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"640" height&equals;"427" class&equals;"size-full wp-image-184425" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-184425" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Boys salute during the funeral procession of Hezbollah members who were killed on Wednesday when a handheld device exploded<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>As Nasrallah spoke in a televised speech from an unknown location&comma; Hezbollah and the Israeli military traded new strikes over the border&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Israeli war planes flew low over Beirut and broke the sound barrier&comma; sending birds flying in panic and people in their houses and offices rushing to open the windows to avoid the glass shattering&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Fears are rising that 11 months of exchanges of fire between the two sides will escalate into all-out war&comma; particularly after this week’s unprecedented bombings around Lebanon and in Syria&comma; detonating hundreds of pagers and walkie talkies used by Hezbollah&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>At least 37 people were killed and some 3&comma;000 wounded in the explosions&comma; 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&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The attack came as Israeli leaders have warned that they could launch a stepped-up military operation against Hezbollah&comma; saying they are determined to stop the group’s fire to allow tens of thousands of Israelis to return to homes near the border<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He vowed that Hezbollah will keep going on with its attacks along the border with Israel as long as the war in Gaza continues&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The Lebanese front will not stop before the aggression on Gaza stops&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Speaking to Israeli troops on Wednesday&comma; Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We are at the start of a new phase in the war — it requires courage&comma; determination and perseverance&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He made no mention of the exploding devices but praised the work of Israel’s army and security agencies&comma; saying &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the results are very impressive”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Gallant said that after months of fighting Hamas in Gaza&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the centre of gravity is shifting to the north by diverting resources and forces&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Hezbollah said earlier on Thursday it had targeted three military positions in northern Israel near the border&comma; two of them with drones&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Israeli military said the drones crashed near communities&period; Hospitals reported they treated at least eight patients lightly or moderately injured&period; The military said early on Thursday it had struck several militant sites in southern Lebanon overnight&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;184426" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-184426" style&equals;"width&colon; 640px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;09&sol;IMG&lowbar;6331&period;webp" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"640" height&equals;"427" class&equals;"size-full wp-image-184426" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-184426" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Smoke rises in northern Israel following a rocket strike from Lebanon on Thursday<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The volley of strikes was a signal by Hezbollah that it would continue its near daily fire&comma; which it says is a show of support for Hamas&period; Israel’s 11-month-old war with Hamas in Gaza began after its militants led the October 7 attack on Israel&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Israel has responded to Hezbollah’s fire with strikes in southern Lebanon&comma; and has struck senior figures from the group in the capital Beirut&period; 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&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Israel and Hezbollah have repeatedly pulled back from an all-out war under heavy pressure from the United States&comma; France and other countries&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But in their recent warnings&comma; Israeli leaders have said they are determined to change the status quo dramatically&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Israel began moving more troops to its border with Lebanon on Wednesday as a precautionary measure&comma; Israeli officials said&period; Israel’s army chief&comma; Lt Gen Herzi Halevi&comma; said plans have been drawn up for additional action against Hezbollah&comma; though media reported the government has not yet decided whether to launch a major offensive in Lebanon&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Lebanon is still reeling from the deadly device attacks of Tuesday and Wednesday&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The explosions have rattled anxious Lebanese fearing a full-scale war&period; The Lebanese Army said it has been locating and detonating suspicious pagers and communication devices&comma; while the country’s civil aviation authorities banned pagers and walkie-talkies on all airplanes departing from Beirut’s international airport until further notice&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The attack was likely to severely disrupt Hezbollah’s internal communication as it scrambles to determine safe means to talk to each other&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Hezbollah announced the death of five combatants on Thursday&comma; but did not specify if they were killed in the explosions or on the front lines&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>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&comma; grocery stores and cafes and on the street&comma; even at a funeral for some killed in the bombings&comma; often with family and other bystanders nearby&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Many suffered gaping wounds on their legs&comma; abdomens and faces or were maimed in the hand&period; Tuesday’s pager blasts killed 12 people&comma; including two children&comma; and wounded some 2&comma;300 others&period; The following day’s explosion killed 25 and wounded more than 600&comma; Health Minister Firas Abiad said&comma; giving updated figures&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>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&period; He praised Lebanon’s hospitals&comma; saying they had managed to deal with the flood of wounded within hours&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It was an indiscriminate attack&period; It was a war crime&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ecc2cb64ec9">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; function &lpar;&rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; false &equals;&equals;&equals; &lpar; window&period;isWatlV1 &quest;&quest; false &rpar; &rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&sol;&sol; Use Aditude scripts&period;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings &equals; window&period;tudeMappings &vert;&vert; 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