Beirut, Lebanon — The White House has warned Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group against “escalation of any kind” following this week’s synchronization explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies targeting Hezbollah members, but during the night, Israeli warplanes carried out dozens of strikes in southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah continued to retaliate.
Loud explosions and fires were triggered by what the Israeli Defense Forces said were strikes targeting hundreds of active Hezbollah rocket launchers in Lebanon early Friday.
It appears to be one of the most significant Israeli attacks on Hezbollah’s stronghold in southern Lebanon since the two sides began exchanging fire 11 months ago, with Hezbollah claiming that its rocket attacks on northern Israel were in support of its Hamas allies and the Palestinian people.
Israel Defense Forces/Document/REUTERS
Hezbollah struck northern Israel again in a counterattack, killing at least two soldiers, Israeli officials said.
The deadly escalation of violence follows a televised speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who admitted that this week’s pager and walkie-talkie explosions had dealt a “severe blow” to the powerful group, which, like Hamas, has long been designated a terrorist group by Israel and the United States.
Nasrallah accused Israel not only of violating “all red lines” with the explosions, but also of making a “declaration of war.”
Israel has not publicly claimed responsibility for the complex attacks, but CBS News has learned that U.S. officials were notified by Israel about 20 minutes before the operations began in Lebanon on Tuesday, though no specific details have been shared. the methods to use.
Over two terrifying days in Lebanon, thousands of low-tech communications devices — many used by Hezbollah operatives — exploded simultaneously across the country, injuring more than 3,000 people and killing at least 37, including children, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
In his speech, Nasrallah vowed that Israel would not achieve its goal of allowing the return of tens of thousands of people displaced from their homes in northern border towns. Yet as he spoke Thursday, sonic booms echoed over Beirut as Israeli fighter jets circled overhead, demonstrating Israel’s military might.
But as Thursday’s U.S. warning indicated, the next steps — whether further Hezbollah retaliation or Israeli military ground operations against the group — could have major consequences.
“Ultimately, if they [Israel] “To invade Lebanon, they would have to occupy southern Lebanon,” regional analyst Makram Rabah told CBS News. “That would lead to a kind of slow, grueling war for Israel, and it would legitimize, more importantly, Hezbollah.”
But hundreds of Hezbollah fighters were likely injured by the bombings, which almost certainly left the group’s communications networks in disarray. And despite warnings from Israel’s defense chief about “a new phase” in the country’s war against Iran’s proxy groups, and despite the transfer of an IDF division from Gaza, there has yet to be any major buildup of Israeli forces or equipment along the Lebanese border.
So the prospect of all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel – which could potentially put US forces across the Middle East at direct risk – may not be as close as some fear.
contributed to this report.
Imtiaz Tyab
