Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday that Israel’s deadly pager and hand-held radio attacks that targeted his fighters across Lebanon amounted to a declaration of war, calling it a major aggression against his people. In a highly anticipated speech, Nasrallah said this week’s attacks were a genocide and a war crime against Lebanon in addition to a declaration of war.
You can call it anything, and it deserves to be called anything, he said, adding later that some people might go further and say that this was an introduction, and hours later, there will be a large scale, major military operation. This is up for debate. As Nasrallah was speaking, Israeli fighter jets struck southern Lebanon in a new strike, Israel has not publicly commented on the pager and hand-held radio explosions, which killed more than 30 people and wounded thousands of others Tuesday and Wednesday in Lebanon, but reports indicate Israeli officials were behind the attacks.
Hezbollah, which has been using low-tech devices like pagers to avoid Israeli surveillance and tracking, suffered one of its most serious security blows in the round of explosions that burned up homes, cars and buildings across Lebanon. It pointed to the Israeli penetration of a supply chain for the devices, which appeared to be laced with explosives and activated remotely.
Nasrallah said Thursday that Hezbollah received a heavy, painful blow from the targeted attacks this week but blamed it on superior technology and intelligence from Israel because it has the backing of the U.S. and the Western security alliance NATO.
There is no doubt that we were subject to a big strike security-wise and human-wise, and unprecedented in the history of the resistance in Lebanon, he said. It might also be unprecedented in the world. Nasrallah said officials are investigating the radio and pager explosions.
