Deadly Israeli attacks in which communication devices used by Hezbollah members exploded crossed all red lines, the leader of that armed Lebanese movement said yesterday in a speech that was broadcast while Iranian fighter jets broke through the sound wall above Beirut, causing buildings to shake.
Lebanon and Hezbollah blamed Israel for attacks on Hezbollah communications equipment that killed 37 people and wounded about 3000, flooding Lebanese hospitals and causing chaos within the militant group, Reuters reports.
Israel has not directly commented on the attacks, which security sources say are likely behind the Mossad intelligence agency, which has a long history of attacks on foreign territory.
"There is no doubt that we have suffered a major security and military coup that has not been recorded in the history of the resistance or in the history of Lebanon," said the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, in a televised address recorded at an unknown location. "This type of killing, targeting and crime is perhaps unprecedented in the world," he said, adding that the attacks "cross all red lines."
"The enemy violated all controls, laws and morality," he said, emphasizing that the attacks "can be considered war crimes or a declaration of war."
As a video of the speech was broadcast, the noise of Israeli warplanes breaking through the sound barrier shook Beirut, a sound that has become commonplace in recent months but has taken on added weight as the threat of all-out war grows. Israel said its warplanes attacked southern Lebanon overnight, and Hezbollah said airstrikes continued in the border area in the afternoon.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said yesterday that Israel will continue military operations against the Lebanese Hezbollah, although the new phase of fighting involves significant risks.
"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," Galant said. "Our goal is to ensure the safe return of the residents of northern Israel to their homes. As time passes, Hezbollah will pay an increasing price," added Galant.
Nasrallah said that Hezbollah hopes that Israeli troops will enter southern Lebanon because it would create a "historic opportunity" for the Iran-backed group. "No military escalation, murders, assassinations or general war will bring Israeli residents back to the border area," he added.
Although Nasrallah described the attacks as unprecedented, accusing Israel of trying to kill 5 people, he also downplayed their impact on Hezbollah, saying the group's structure had not been shaken.
"Yes, we received a big and fierce blow, but that is the nature of war," Nasrallah said. "We are aware that our enemy is technologically superior and we have never claimed otherwise."
Israel will face a "devastating response from the axis of resistance," Revolutionary Guard commander Hossein Salami said yesterday in a conversation with Nasrallah.
Two Israeli soldiers were killed yesterday in the fighting in the north of Israel, the Israeli army announced. Israel's N12 News channel reported that one of them was killed by a drone, while the other was killed by an anti-tank missile fired by Hezbollah across the Lebanese border.
Attacks on Hezbollah communications equipment have sown fear across Lebanon, causing people to stop using electronic devices for fear of carrying bombs in their pockets.
"Who can secure their phone now? When I heard what was happening yesterday, I left my phone on my motorcycle and left," Mustafa Sibal told Reuters on a street in Beirut.
Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel a day after the Palestinian militant group carried out a cross-border attack on October 7, triggering the Gaza war. Since then, there have been constant conflicts. Although neither side allowed the situation to escalate into a general war, it led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from border areas on both sides.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on the United Nations Security Council to take a firm stand to stop what he called Israel's "aggression" and "technological warfare" against his country.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said yesterday that he did not want to see any escalating actions from either side that would make it more difficult to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, adding that he believed a ceasefire was still possible and necessary.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has postponed a planned trip to Israel next week due to the escalation on the Israeli-Lebanese border, Axios reported yesterday, citing two unnamed Israeli officials.
Israel claims that its conflict with Hezbollah, like the war in Gaza against Hamas, is part of a wider regional conflict with Iran, which finances both groups as well as armed movements in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
Also yesterday, Israeli security forces said an Israeli businessman was arrested last month after attending at least two meetings in Iran discussing the assassination of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the defense minister or the head of the Shin Bet intelligence agency.
Israel has been accused of a series of killings, including an explosion in Tehran that killed the leader of Hamas and another in a suburb of Beirut that killed a senior Hezbollah commander within hours of each other in July.
Despite the events of the past few days, a spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon said the situation along the border "has not changed much in terms of the exchange of fire between the conflicting parties."
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