Israel bombed southern Lebanon on Thursday and claimed to have foiled an Iranian-backed assassination plot, a day after Hezbollah radio blasts that followed booby-trapped pager blasts, setting the foes on a path to war.
Sophisticated attacks on communications equipment used by the Iranian-backed armed group Hezbollah have sown unrest in Lebanon and are increasingly seen as a harbinger of a return to the all-out war last fought 18 years ago.
Portable radios used by Hezbollah were detonated in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, in the bloodiest day for the country since cross-border fighting between the militants and Israel began, parallel to the Gaza war, nearly a year ago.
The day before, hundreds of pagers – used by Hezbollah to avoid cell phone surveillance – had exploded simultaneously, killing 12 people, including two children, and wounding about 3,000.
Israel has not directly commented on the attacks, but several security sources said they were carried out by the spy agency Mossad.
Israel says its conflict with Hezbollah, like its war in Gaza against Hamas, is part of a broader regional confrontation with Iran, which sponsors both armed groups and movements in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
On Thursday, Israeli security forces announced that an Israeli businessman was arrested last month after attending at least two meetings in Iran in which he discussed assassinating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the defense minister or the head of the Shin Bet spy agency. Last week, the Shin Bet uncovered what it said was a Hezbollah plot to assassinate former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.
Israel has been accused of assassinations, including the explosions in Tehran that killed the Hamas leader and in a Beirut suburb that killed a senior Hezbollah commander within hours of each other in July.
Despite the events of the past few days, a spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon said the situation along the border “has not changed much in terms of exchanges of fire between the sides.”
“There was an escalation last week. This week it’s more or less the same. There’s still a firefight. It’s still worrying, it’s still worrying, and the rhetoric is strong,” spokesman Andrea Tenenti told Reuters.
Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire on the Israel-Lebanon border, paralleling Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas, the Palestinian militant group whose fighters attacked Israel on October 7.
Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee the Israeli-Lebanon border area on both sides. Netanyahu promised Wednesday to return evacuated Israelis “safely to their homes.”
Israeli aircraft and artillery struck several targets in southern Lebanon overnight, the Israeli military said.
The army said the airstrikes hit Hezbollah targets in Chihine, Tayibe, Blida, Meiss El Jabal, Aitaroun and Kfarkela in southern Lebanon, as well as a Hezbollah weapons depot in the Khiam region.
Israeli media reported that several Israeli civilians were injured by anti-tank missiles fired from Lebanon, but there was no official confirmation.
Source: Terra
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