Hezbollah‘s leader has condemned Israel after thousands of pagers and walkie talkies exploded over two days, saying ‘all red lines have been crossed by the enemy’ and that the deadly attacks ‘deserve a response’.
Sonic booms from Israeli jets were heard over Beirut at the same time as the group’s chief Hassan Nasrallah was making his speech, sparking terror across the Lebanese capital which has been on edge since the attacks began on Tuesday.
A huge booming sound was heard on live TV, with journalists on the ground reporting that the loud noise was followed by screams as panicked Lebanese residents brace for further escalation.
Lebanon, Hezbollah and its backer Iran have blamed Israel for the clandestine attacks that have killed 37 people and wounded around 3,000, overwhelming Lebanese hospitals and wreaking bloody havoc on Hezbollah.
Israel has not directly commented on the attacks, which security sources say were probably carried out by its Mossad spy agency, with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant saying only that ‘the results are very impressive’.
As tensions reach boiling point, a top Iranian commander has reportedly promised Hezbollah, a proxy of Tehran, that their common arch-enemy Israel will face ‘a crushing response from the axis of resistance.’
In his first address since the attacks began to wreak havoc across Lebanon on Tuesday, Nasrallah said more than 4,000 devices were detonated with the intention of killing thousands.
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‘This could be called a declaration of war,’ Nasrallah told his followers. ‘We have received a very hard hit, but this is the state of war. Through this experience and its lessons we will be stronger and more powerful.’
Nasrallah said the explosions had ‘happened in hospitals, pharmacies, markets, shops, houses and in cars,’ as well as in the streets ‘where many civilians were along with women and children.’
‘This is the scale of criminality,’ he said. ‘What can we call this kind of criminal action – is it a big operation? Is it genocide? Is it a massacre?’
He said the death toll, which stands at 37 in total, could have been far higher, but that not all the pagers and radios had been handed out and not all fighters were with their communication devices when the blasts were triggered.
