Israel strikes Lebanon as Hezbollah says device blasts are ‘act of war’ – latest

Israeli fighter jets have pounded Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon over the past few hours, striking hundreds of rocket launcher barrels that were set to be used to immediately fire toward Israeli territory, the military said.

It said that since the afternoon fighter jets struck some 100 rocket launchers consisting of about 1,000 barrels.

“The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) will continue to operate to degrade the Hezbollah terrorist organization’s infrastructure and capabilities in order to defend the State of Israel,” the IDF said.

The US has kept an increased military presence in the Middle East throughout much of the past year, with about 40,000 forces, at least a dozen warships and four Air Force fighter jet squadrons spread across the region.

As attacks between Israel and Hezbollah sharply spiked this week, worries are growing that the conflict could escalate into an all-out war, even as Tel Aviv keeps up its nearly yearlong fight against Hamas militants in Gaza.

So far, the US hasn’t signaled a troop increase or change as a result of the latest attacks, and there is already a beefed-up force in the region. A military official said the additional resources have helped as the US patrols various conflict areas, including operations targeting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, defending Israel and countering threats from Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have targeted commercial ships in the Red Sea and launched ballistic missiles at Israel.

A diplomatic solution in the Middle East is achievable and is urgent, the White House said on Thursday, as Reuters reported Israel carried out dozens of strikes across southern Lebanon.

The White House believes a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas would “lower the temperature” in the region, spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Israel says its conflict with Hezbollah, like its war in Gaza against Hamas, is part of a wider regional confrontation with Iran, which sponsors both groups as well as armed movements in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.

Also on Thursday, Israeli security forces said that an Israeli businessman had been arrested last month after attending at least two meetings in Iran where he discussed assassinating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the defence minister or the head of the Shin Bet spy agency.

Israel has been accused of assassinations including a blast in Tehran that killed the leader of Hamas and another in a Beirut suburb that killed a senior Hezbollah commander within hours of each other in July.

A preliminary investigation by Lebanese authorities into the communications devices that blew uphave found that they were implanted with explosives before arriving in the country.

According to a letter sent by the Lebanese mission to the UN, they were detonated by sending electronic messages to the devices.

Israel was responsible for the planning and execution of the attacks, they added.

The 15-member Security Council is due to meet on Friday over the blasts.

After months of near-daily fire across the Israel–Lebanon border, Hezbollah were concerned about Israeli location and tracking and spyware via mobile phones – which could allow for targeted strikes or disruptions to operations.

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Bulgaria and Norway became new focal points on Thursday of a global hunt for who supplied Hezbollah with the thousands of pagers that exploded in Lebanon this week in a deadly blow to the militant group.

How and with whose help the pager attack was carried out was not yet known, although so far there were possible leads in Taiwan, Hungary and Bulgaria.

One theory is that the pagers were intercepted and hooked up with explosives after they left factories. Another is that Israel orchestrated the whole deadly supply chain.

Bulgarian authorities said on Thursday that its interior ministry and state security services had opened an investigation into a company’s possible ties. They did not name the company they were investigating.

Local media reports said Sofia-based Norta Global Ltd had facilitated the sale of the pagers to Hezbollah. Citing security sources, national broadcaster bTV reported that 1.6 million euros related to the transaction passed through Bulgaria, and was sent to Hungary.

Israel began moving more troops to its border with Lebanon on Wednesday as a precautionary measure, Israeli officials have said. It comes as Israel’s army chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said plans have been drawn up for additional action against Hezbollah, though media reported the government has not yet decided whether to launch a major offensive in Lebanon.

In Lebanon, their military said it has been locating and detonating suspicious pagers and communication devices, while the country’s civil aviation authorities banned pagers and walkie-talkies on all airplanes departing from Beirut’s international airport until further notice.

The attack was likely to severely disrupt Hezbollah’s internal communication as it scrambles to determine safe means to talk to each other. Hezbollah announced the death of five combatants Thursday, but didn’t specify if they were killed in the explosions or on the front lines.

Israel carried out dozens of strikes on Thursday across southern Lebanon, three Lebanese security sources told Reuters.

They added it was some of the most intense bombing since the start of the war in October.

Sonic booms from low-flying Israeli jets shook the buildings in Beirut during a televised speech by the militant group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah in which he warned this week’s unprecedented action “could be called a declaration of war”.

Israel has yet to confirm or deny it was behind the remote explosions, which killed at least 37 people including two children. More than 3,000 people were also wounded, according to the Lebanese health ministry, whose top medics told The Independent that they were struggling to treat such a huge influx of critical injuries.

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