Israel strikes Lebanon after pager attacks: As it happened

Lebanon’s Hezbollah was still handing its members new Gold Apollo branded pagers hours before thousands of the devices exploded this week, Reuters reported, citing two security sources. 

Despite an ongoing sweep of electronic devices to identify threats, the group was also reportedly confident that they were safe.

One member of the Iranian-backed militia received a new pager on Monday that exploded the next day while it was still in its box, one of the sources told the agency. A pager given to a senior member just days earlier injured a subordinate when it detonated, another source said.

Japan’s Icom said it was highly unlikely that the walkie-talkies used by armed group Hezbollah that exploded on Wednesday in Lebanon, were the company’s products.

The only way to prove they were not Icom products "would have been to conduct a physical inspection of one of the damaged units," the company said.

"However, we believe that the likelihood that the devices that exploded were produced by Icom, is extremely low after comparing the many pieces of information that have come to light so far, such as the fact that the radio did not have a hologram sticker," the company said on its website Friday.

Icom also said that Lebanese authorities have determined that the wireless devices were not their company’s products.

The Japanese firm earlier said it had stopped producing the model of the devices in question around 10 years ago.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib has argued that the normalization of using pagers and other wireless devices as bombs would set a dangerous precedent and be tantamount to “opening a Pandora’s box.”

“No one in this world is safe any more in the aftermath of the electronic attack which was carried out recently in Lebanon,” he told the UN Security Council.

The “unfathomable” attacks have “led to the wounding of thousands of innocent civilians, including children, women and elderly,” Habib added, urging others to condemn Israel.

While Israel neither confirmed nor denied its role, it was widely reported that Mossad was responsible for rigging thousands of communication devices used by Hezbollah members with explosives. The explosions across Lebanon have killed 37 people, including Hezbollah operatives, and wounded some 3,000.

Washington has once again called for restraint in the region. “It is imperative that even as facts emerge about the latest incidents, in which I reiterate the United States played no role, all parties refrain from any actions which could plunge the region into a devastating war,” Ambassador Robert Wood told the UN Security Council. 

At the same time, Wood stressed that Israel has the right to defend itself from cross-border attacks by Hezbollah. “No member of this Council, facing a terrorist organization on its border, would tolerate daily rocket attacks on its territory and the displacement of tens of thousands of its people,” he said.

Israel’s envoy to the UN, Danny Danon, has urged the world to take action against Hezbollah. He accused the Lebanese government of allowing “a terrorist organization to build a state within a state and wreak havoc on Lebanese citizens.”

“This is the only way to prevent further escalation,” he said.

Danon told reporters on Friday that the pro-Palestinian militant group must be driven out of southern Lebanon and prevented from carrying out cross-border attacks on Israeli cities.

“If Hezbollah is not pushed back from our border to [the] north of the Litani River through diplomatic efforts, Israel will be left with no choice but to use any means within our right to defend our citizens and enable the evacuees from the north to return to their homes,” Danon warned.

Speaking at the UN Security Council, Russian envoy Vassily Nebenzia condemned this week’s pager and walkie-talkie explosions in Lebanon as “a terrorist act, which poses a threat to regional peace and security.” Such attacks could have “unpredictable consequences” for the Middle East, he added. 

Without blaming Israel directly, Nebenzia argued that the “organizers” of the blasts had wanted to “provoke a new major Middle Eastern war.” 

He also condemned Israel’s recent airstrikes in Lebanon and called on all sides to exercise “maximum restraint” and reach “an immediate ceasefire.”

The UN Security Council has convened to discuss the situation in Lebanon. Opening the meeting, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo noted that fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has already displaced more than 100,000 people in southern Lebanon and 60,000 in northern Israel.

“The exchanges of fire have caused numerous casualties, including among civilians, and significant damage to homes, civilian infrastructure and agricultural land,” she stated, adding that “the risk of further expansion of this cycle of violence is extremely serious and poses a grave threat to the security of Lebanon, Israel and the whole region.”

“Our goals are clear and our actions speak for themselves,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said in a short statement. Netanyahu has not acknowledged that Israel is in a state of war with Lebanon, but his announcement came a day after he said that Israel’s war aims – which until now have been focused on destroying Hamas in Gaza – have been expanded to include enabling Israelis to return to evacuated areas near the border.

Earlier this week, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared that “military action” was the “only way” to achieve this goal.

The wife and children of RT Arabic correspondent Hussein Ayad were injured in the Israeli airstrike, the network reported on Friday. Ayad’s family had been staying in an apartment building next to the blast site, and were taken to a nearby hospital after the incident.

RT’s press office described their survival as “miraculous,” and wished Ayad’s family a speedy recovery.

Video footage from the scene of the strike shows the target building completely leveled, and widespread damage to surrounding buildings.

The IDF has confirmed that senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil was killed in Friday’s airstrike. Two other commanders were eliminated along with Aqil, the IDF said in a statement.