Netanyahu is Behind Lebanon Pager Explosions, Israeli Media Reports, Hezbollah Vows Retaliation
Earlier this week, Netanyahu endorsed an operation that blew up pager wireless communication devices in Lebanon, as reported by the Israeli news site ‘Walla.’ The explosions, which killed nine and injured almost 3,000, of whom 200 are in critical condition, disrupted a large portion of Hezbollah’s communications system, according to the report.
The ‘Walla’ report relying on anonymous sources from the American senior officials placed Israel behind the attacks. However, Netanyahu’s office denied any connection to the story behind a now-deleted post on social media by Topaz Luk, the advisor to Netanyahu, which suggested Israeli involvement.
In civilian and health care, cripple communication pagers that the terrorists were said to have employed were said to have been booby-trapped to jam Hezbollah’s military communications. The militant group admitted that two of its rebels died in the blast while many others sustained injuries.
After the explosions, the Israeli officials understood the possibility of sharp escalation on the northern border with Lebanon. They agreed that the Israel defense force is prepared to retaliate against Hezbollah’s significant scale attack.
A source in the IDF said in the Walla that at the beginning of the week, during the consultations with the security sire, defense heads, and intelligence heads, it was decided to target the pagers.
On the same note, Lebanon’s Education Minister Abbas Halabi stated that all schools and educational institutions would be shut down on Wednesday to prevent further attacks. “It is in this context that we declare the suspension of all public and private schools, Lebanese University, and all private universities throughout Lebanon tomorrow Wednesday in response to the criminal act perpetrated by the Israeli enemy against citizens,” Halabi said.
The minister also called on the international community to act and put a stop to what he referred to as the ‘killing machine’ of the Israelis; the blasts he said were the ‘greatest collective crime’ ever committed against the people of Lebanon.
Hezbollah claimed full responsibility for the wireless explosions and promised a ‘just retaliation from the unexpected sources. ’ Meanwhile, the advisory by the Lebanon Health Ministry urged all citizens to dispose of their pager sets immediately due to possible more significant risks of attack.
The United States has disassociated with the operation when gathering information on the occurrence. In response to the incident, a State Department spokesman stated Matthew Miller and said that the U. S. had no prior knowledge or had a hand in the explosions. ‘The US was not involved in it, the US was not aware of this incident in advance, and at this point, we are getting information,’ Miller said.
Another Pentagon official, Air Force Major General Pat Ryder, also said that no changes to the U.S. force posture in the Middle East had been made. He established a telephone call between the USA’s defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, and Israel’s Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant. Still, he did not reveal the time when the conversation occurred, whether before or after the pager explosions.
Thus, more and more tensions grow, and the situation in the region remains rather sensitive, with an increased risk of future confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah for more.
