After suffering 11 months of daily rockets fired by Hezbollah, which have killed and injured hundreds and forced more than 80,000 people from their homes, Israel hit back hard this week.
The pager explosions on Tuesday — targeting the primitive communication devices relied upon by the terrorist organization to avoid detection — reportedly killed 12 and wounded 3,000. In contrast, the walkie-talkie explosions the following day reportedly killed 20 and injured another 500. Despite the attack widely being blamed on Israel, there has still been no official acknowledgment from the Israeli government.
Even while Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah addressed his followers on Thursday following the attacks, Israeli jets buzzed over Beirut, breaking the sound barrier and dropping flares, leading many to conclude that his address had been pre-recorded, despite claims that it was being broadcast live.
Over Beirut Now https://t.co/Dzcd5Xz5ws pic.twitter.com/YkflrFEw4k
— 𝓂𝒶𝓇𝒾𝑜🇱🇧🇬🇧🇦🇪 (@MarioLeb79) September 19, 2024
In his address, Nasrallah acknowledged that the terror group had suffered an “unprecedented” blow as a result of the exploding devices.
“Without a doubt, we have suffered a major blow. [It is] unprecedented in the history of the resistance in Lebanon at least, unprecedented in the history of Lebanon, and it may be unprecedented in the history of the conflict with the Israeli enemy across the entire region.”
He vowed revenge against Israel.
“Hiding explosives in Hezbollah’s personal devices is the best way to target terrorists who hide among civilians,” David May, research manager and senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told JNS. “This was a pinpoint operation compared to modern urban warfare. Many of the critics of this operation tailor their analysis to their presupposition that Israel is evil and guilty.”
“Hezbollah launched the current round of hostilities on Oct. 8 while Israel was still clearing Hamas fighters out of southern Israel,” he added. “The Iran-backed terrorist group has since launched more than 8,500 rockets at Israel. It doesn’t get to start a war and demand that Israel conduct it as an eye-for-an-eye campaign.”
Fox News reports on Israel’s destruction of 1,000 Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels late Thursday. Here’s the start of the story:
Israeli officials on Thursday were warning residents in the north to stay inside or remain near bomb shelters after the Isreli Air Force (IAF) struck hundreds of Hezbollah military targets inside Lebanon.
The IAF, using intelligence from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), struck some 100 launchers and additional “terrorist infrastructure sites” comprising about 1,000 barrels.
Israeli officials said these barrels “were ready to be used in the immediate future to fire toward Israeli territory.”
It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.
The strikes come after two days of attacks targeting thousands of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies that have been widely blamed on Israel.
Speaking for the first time since back-to-back attacks Thursday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah described the mass bombing of devices as a “severe blow” and threatened retaliation.
During his speech, Hezbollah struck at least four times in northern Israel, and two Israeli soldiers were killed in a strike earlier in the day. Israeli warplanes flew low over Beirut while Nasrallah spoke and broke the sound barrier, scattering birds and prompting people in houses and offices to quickly open windows to prevent them from shattering.