Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah delivered a speech on Thursday and said Israel “crossed all red lines” by exploding pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon over the past two days.
“With this operation, the enemy crossed all laws and red lines. It didn’t care about anything at all. Not humanity, not morality, not legality,” the Hezbollah leader said. During the speech, Israeli warplanes flew over Beirut and appeared to drop flares.
Nasrallah said the Israeli operation “could be considered war crimes or a declaration of war.” He called the attack “unprecedented” and said it dealt a “blow” to Hezbollah. “We cannot be broken by this blow, no matter how big or strong it is. And I can assure you faithfully and with confidence, this hard, unprecedented blow did not bring us to our knees – and it will not,” he said
Nasrallah said that senior Hezbollah officials did not carry the electronic devices that were blown up and added that “what happened did not impact our command, control or infrastructure.”
Israel blew up pagers purchased by Hezbollah on Tuesday, killing 12 people, including two children and four medical workers, and wounding thousands. The following day, Israel detonated walkie-talkies, killing 25 and wounding over 600.
Nasrallah said civilians were targeted in the attack since explosions occurred in private homes and public places, including hospitals, supermarkets, pharmacies, and crowded streets. A source close to Hezbollah told Middle East Eye that the pagers were used by a “wide network of people, including administrators, medical workers, paramedics, media workers, and other civilian members.”
Nasrallah vowed Hezbollah would respond to the Israeli attack and that attacks on Israel would continue until there was a ceasefire in Gaza. “It will be met with tough retribution, just retribution, and just punishment where they expect it and where they do not,” he said.
Hezbollah rockets hit northern Israel on Lebanon, killing at least two Israeli soldiers, and Israeli fighter jets struck Lebanon. The two sides have been trading fire across the border since October 7. According to a count from Al Jazeera, as of September 6, Israel has launched 7,845 attacks on Lebanon since October 7, 2023, killing 646 people. In that time, Hezbollah launched 1,768 attacks on Israel, killing 32 Israelis.