Israel carries out airstrikes on Hezbollah bases in Lebanon after pager attacks
- In Reports
- 12:52 PM, Sep 20, 2024
- Myind Staff
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Thursday that they were targeting Hezbollah positions in Lebanon around the same time when Hassan Nasrallah, the group's leader, was addressing Lebanese citizens and members. Nasrallah delivered a televised address to supporters in the aftermath of the pager attacks that left over 2,900 people injured and 37 dead.
According to Lebanese state media, Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier over Beirut during a speech by the leader of Hezbollah. In its press release, IDF said, “The IDF is currently striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon to degrade Hezbollah’s terrorist capabilities and infrastructure. For decades, Hezbollah has weaponised civilian homes, dug tunnels beneath them and used civilians as human shields—having turned southern Lebanon into a war zone.”
The IDF pledged to assist displaced Israelis in returning to the parts of northern Israel bordering Lebanon. It said, “The IDF is operating to bring security to northern Israel in order to enable the return of residents to their homes and achieve war goals.” In his speech, Nasrallah did, however, swear that the Israelis who have been displaced will never be allowed to return to northern Israel. “You will not be able to return the people of the north to the north,” Hassan Nasrallah said addressing Israel, warning that “no military escalation, no killings, no assassinations and no all-out war can return residents to the border”.
Subsequently, Israel claimed that two of its soldiers had died as a result of recent Hezbollah attacks across the border in Lebanon. After thousands of operatives' communication devices exploded across Lebanon, the head of Hezbollah admitted that his organisation had suffered a "major and unprecedented" blow. Israel will face "tough retribution and a just punishment, where it expects it and where it does not," according to Nasrallah, who called the attacks a "massacre" and called it a possible "act of war" and warned that Israel would face, “tough retribution and a just punishment, where it expects it and where it does not”.
Hezbollah is an ally of Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist organisation that has been engaged in hostilities in Gaza since attacking Israel on October 7.
Israel has directed its firepower toward Hamas-ruled Gaza for almost a year. However, its forces have also been fighting Hezbollah militants almost every day along its northern border, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people—mostly fighters—in Lebanon and dozens in Israel. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate their homes due to the firefights on both sides of the border. Until a cease-fire in Gaza is achieved, Nasrallah promised to maintain Hezbollah's resistance against Israel. “The Lebanese front will not stop until the aggression on Gaza stops” despite “all this blood spilt,” he said.
Image source: News 18
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