Israel reported that two of its soldiers were killed today near the border with Lebanon.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel of “just punishment” after a series of explosions on two consecutive days killed 32 people and wounded more than 3,000. Israel has not commented on the attacks.
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The attacks were a “mass murder” that “could be a war crime or a declaration of war,” he said, accusing Israel of wanting to “kill at least 5,000 people in two minutes.”
Lebanon lies north of Israel and daily fighting has driven thousands of residents from the north of the country. Israeli officials have promised that people will return home.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said: “The center of gravity is shifting to the north, resources are being allocated.” Hezbollah is fighting Tel Aviv over the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 40,000 people.
The Hezbollah leader said: “They will not stop until the aggression against Gaza stops”, accompanied by a warning to Israel that they “cannot send the people of the north back to the north” unless they “stop the war in Gaza”.
Hezbollah is an ally of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has been waging a war in Gaza since the October 7 attack on Israel.
Today, Lebanese state media reported that Israeli fighters broke the sound barrier over the capital Beirut, meaning that fighter jets went supersonic as the leader of Hezbollah gave a speech.
Israel said two of its soldiers were killed on the border with Lebanon today, while Hezbollah claimed 25 of its members were killed in explosions, AFP news agency reported. Lebanese media reported Israeli attacks and shelling on towns in the south.
As the war in Israel enters its 11th month, explosions on pagers and walkie-talkies among the “enemy” in the north have opened a new front, raising concerns of an all-out war.
The New York Times spoke to three Israeli intelligence officials who said BAC Consulting, a Hungary-based manufacturer of pagers, was a front company set up by the Mossad to manipulate the devices at their source before they were shipped to Lebanon.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned against any escalation of the war in the Middle East. “France and the United States are united in calling for restraint and pushing for de-escalation when it comes to the Middle East in general and when it comes to Lebanon in particular,” he said.
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