Israel said two of its soldiers were killed near the border with Lebanon today.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel of “just punishment” after 32 were killed and over 3,000 were injured in a series of explosions on two consecutive days. Israel has not commented on the attacks.
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The attacks were a “massacre” that “could be a war crime or a declaration of war,” he said, accusing Israel of having wanted to “kill no less than 5,000 people in two minutes”.
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Lebanon lies north of Israel and daily fighting has resulted in the displacement of thousands of residents from its northern region and Israeli officials promised people to return to their homes.
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Israeli Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, said, “The centre of gravity is moving northward — resources are being allocated.” Hezbollah is fighting Tel Aviv over its war in Gaza which has killed over 40,000.
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Hezbollah chief said, “They will not stop until the aggression on Gaza stops”. It comes along with a warning to Israel that they will not be “able to return the people of the north to the north” unless they “stop the war in Gaza”.
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Hezbollah is an ally of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has been fighting a war in Gaza since its October 7 attack on Israel.
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Today, Lebanese state media reported that Israeli fighters broke the sound barrier over the capital Beirut, i.e., fighter jets went supersonic at the same time when the Hezbollah chief was speaking.
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Israel said two of its soldiers were killed near the border with Lebanon today, while Hezbollah claimed that 25 of its members were killed following explosions, news agency AFP reported. Lebanese media reported Israeli strikes and shelling on towns in its south.
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While Israel’s war drags to its 11th month, pager and walkie-talkie explosions in its “enemy” in the north have opened another front triggering concerns of an all-out war.
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The New York Times spoke to three Israeli intelligence officers who said BAC Consulting, a Hungary-based manufacturer of pagers, was a shell company set up by Mossad to rig the devices at the source before shipping them to Lebanon.
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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 urging de-escalation when it comes to the Middle East in general and when it comes to Lebanon in particular,” he said.
