Pager attacks in Lebanon were '15 years in the making', intelligence sources say, as Israel launches heavy air raids
20 September 2024, 08:57
The electronic device attacks on Hezbollah, widely attributed to Israel, are said to have been planned for 15 years.
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The pagers, walkie talkies and other electronic devices exploded in people's hands or near them on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing at least 37 people and wounded nearly 3,000 across the two days.
Israel has not confirmed its involvement in the attacks, but intelligence sources have said that intelligence agencies were able to intervene during the manufacturing process to insert explosives.
The operations was said to have been carried out through a complex network of shell companies run by Israeli intelligence operatives.
The devices are then said to have been triggered remotely, wreaking havoc in the capital and across the country.
A US intelligence source told ABC News that the CIA had considered carrying out similar interventions, but had decided against it because the risk to innocent civilians was too high.
The identities of all the victims of the attack has not been made clear, but two of the people who were killed by the pager blasts on Tuesday were confirmed as children.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah accused Israel of carrying out massacres, with the intention of killing "5,000 people in two minutes".
He criticised Israel for "crossing all red lines" after the blast attacks in Lebanon, warning that they could be a "declaration of war".
And on Thursday, Israel launched a "new phase of the war" in the Middle East, escalating a conflict with Lebanon that has shadowed the fighting in Gaza since October 7.
The IDF said on Thursday night that it had hit around 100 rocket launchers and "hundreds" of launcher barrels belonging to Hezbollah.
In a statement shared on social media platform Telegram, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said: "Over the last two hours, directed by IDF intelligence, the IAF [Israeli Air Force] struck hundreds of rocket launcher barrels that were ready to be used immediately to fire toward Israeli territory.
"Since this afternoon, the IAF has struck approximately 100 launchers and additional terrorist infrastructure sites, consisting of approximately 1,000 barrels that were ready to be used in the immediate future to fire toward Israeli territory.
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"The IDF will continue to operate to degrade the Hezbollah terrorist organisation's infrastructure and capabilities in order to defend the state of Israel."
The UK has urged restraint, with Foreign Secretary David Lammy calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Ex-Israeli PM says 20 deaths is 'not a disaster' as wave of blasts injure thousands in Lebanon
"Tonight I'm calling for an immediate ceasefire from both sides.
"We are all very, very clear that we want to see a negotiated political settlement so that Israelis can return to their homes in northern Israel and indeed Lebanese to return to their homes."
