The Hezbollah leader has commented on the explosions. Meanwhile, Israel is attacking Lebanon from the air. All developments in the news blog.
18:08: France and the USA are calling for restraint in the Middle East, especially in Lebanon, says US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. They do not want to see any escalations from either party, he says.
At the same time, he said he believed a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip was still possible. According to the presidential office, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke on the phone with Lebanese politicians and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called for moderation.
17:27: Two Israeli soldiers have been killed near the border with Lebanon, the army announced. Israeli broadcaster N12 reported that one soldier was killed by a drone and the other by an anti-tank missile.
16:35: The Hezbollah militia in Lebanon wants to prevent the return of Israeli civilians to the border region with Lebanon. This will not be achieved through military escalation, says its leader Hassan Nasrallah in his first speech since the pagers and walkie-talkies exploded.
He hopes that Israel will try to penetrate southern Lebanon, as this represents a historic opportunity for Hezbollah. Hezbollah’s readiness to fight in Lebanon has increased, he says. The attacks have not damaged the command structures of the terrorist organization. The infrastructure of the group, which is allied with Iran, is also intact.
16:33: After the explosion of hundreds of communication devices belonging to the pro-Iranian Hezbollah in Lebanon, the head of the Shiite terror group has admitted that his militia has been dealt a “serious blow”. In his first appearance since the attacks, which left 37 dead and more than 3,000 injured, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a live televised address on Thursday that Israel had “crossed all red lines” with the explosions. “This criminal act is tantamount to a declaration of war,” he said.
“The enemy” wanted to “kill no fewer than 5,000 people” by detonating pagers and walkie-talkies simultaneously on Tuesday and Wednesday, said Nasrallah.
16:19: Israeli forces are attacking targets in Lebanon. The soldiers are deployed to restore security in northern Israel, the General Staff announced. There is a wave of air strikes. “This is intended to enable residents to return to their homes.” Due to the almost daily short skirmishes between the Hezbollah militia and the Israeli military on the Israeli-Lebanese border, thousands of Israelis left the region months ago.
The military further explains: “The terrorist organization Hezbollah has turned southern Lebanon into a battle zone.” The radical Islamic group has used houses as weapons depots, dug tunnels underneath them and used civilians as human shields. Lebanese media report heavy Israeli air strikes near Deir Qanoun al-Nahr in the Tyre district.
16:01: Israeli police say they have arrested a man who is believed to have planned an assassination attempt on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the help of Iran. The Israeli citizen was recruited by the Iranian secret service, the police and the Israeli domestic intelligence service Shin Bet said. The man was supposed to prepare assassinations on leading politicians in the country, including Netanyahu.
“He was secretly brought to Iran twice and received payment for carrying out missions,” the statement said with reference to the arrested man. In addition to Netanyahu, the possible victims of the attack included Defense Minister Joav Gallant, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and other leading government officials.
According to a court document seen by the AFP news agency, Mordechai M., who comes from Ashkelon, Israel, has been in custody since the end of August. According to the Israeli police and the domestic intelligence service, he is a businessman who lived in Turkey for a long time and had contact with Iranians there.
