Hezbollah begins fighting after pager explosions – DW – 18.09.2024

Matthew Levitt, a counterterrorism and intelligence expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told DW that Tuesday's attack on Hezbollah's pagers was a huge intelligence breakthrough for the militant group and “it is very likely that Israel is behind this incident.”

“It seems pretty clear that when these pagers were procured, while they were in the supply chain, small amounts of explosives were placed in these pagers. This was not a cyber issue,” Levitt said.

He added that the attack was likely a signal from Israel to Hezbollah that they were “very, very serious” and that Hezbollah's 11-month rocket attacks on northern Israel must end.

Watch the full interview with Levitt here:

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Cairo rejects any attempt to escalate the conflict in the Gaza Strip and supports Lebanon after the pager explosions.

“The President reiterated Egypt's rejection of attempts to escalate the conflict and expand its scope to the region. He stressed that all parties must act responsibly and reiterated Egypt's support for Lebanon,” the Egyptian President said in a statement.

Blinken traveled to Egypt, a neighboring country that is trying to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, to advance that long-stalled process.

El-Sissi's office said the two discussed “ways to intensify joint efforts between Egypt, the United States and Qatar to make progress in ceasefire negotiations and the exchange of hostages and prisoners” during a 90-minute meeting on Wednesday.

The president also called for “decisive action to remove obstacles to the entry of massive amounts of humanitarian aid” into Gaza and “to end Israeli violations in the West Bank,” his office said.

A US State Department spokesman had said before the talks that no major developments were expected in Cairo on Wednesday. The spokesman said Blinken was focused on working out a proposal that the mediators believed both Israel and Hamas would agree to.

Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said on Wednesday that 12 people were killed when hundreds of Hezbollah pagers exploded.

Abiad said at a press conference that the number of deaths had been revised to “12 dead, including two children” “after consultation with all hospitals.”

He estimated the number of injured at 2,750 to 2,800.

He said some patients, such as those from Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley, had been “transferred to Syria” for treatment and other people were also being evacuated to Iran.

The Lebanese government and Hezbollah accuse Israel of being behind the explosions.

Israel has not commented on the pager explosions.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will depart on Wednesday for a two-day trip to Spain, during which he will meet with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and King Felipe VI, among others.

The visit followed Spain's formal recognition of a Palestinian state comprising the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The first Palestinian ambassador to Spain presented his credentials to King Felipe in Madrid on Monday.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Madrid's decision in May to recognize a Palestinian state was “not directed against anyone, least of all against Israel,” but it nevertheless provoked a critical reaction from Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the move “a reward for terrorism” at the time.

In recent months, Spain has been more critical of the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip than most European governments.

Abbas leads Fatah and the Palestinian Authority, which currently governs the occupied West Bank but not the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the militant Hamas. Abbas' talks with Sanchez were scheduled for Thursday.

At the end of May, Spain and Ireland became the first EU members to recognise a Palestinian state. Slovenia followed in June as the third member. Norway, which is not an EU member, also recognised an independent Palestinian state.

Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese company that was initially thought to have manufactured the devices, stated that Hungary-based BAC, which holds a license to use Gold Apollo's trademark and design, actually manufactured the pagers.

“Under the cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our trademark for product sales in certain regions, but the design and manufacture of the products are the sole responsibility of BAC,” the statement said.

Experts say the explosives were probably placed in the pagers before delivery, suggesting it must have been a highly sophisticated operation to infiltrate the supply chain.

A day after nine people died and thousands were injured when Hezbollah members' pagers exploded across Lebanon and parts of Syria, the militant group has said it will not stop fighting.

The group said Israel had not commented on the attack but would receive “just punishment” for the incident and “continue the fight” for Gaza.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah announced that he would give an important speech on Thursday in which he would address the “latest developments”.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has landed in Cairo for his tenth trip to the Middle East since the start of the Gaza war.

He will meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, but his mission to broker a ceasefire is likely to be hampered by the attack on Hezbollah members in Lebanon a day earlier.

“He will meet with Egyptian officials on a range of issues, but at the top of the agenda is how we can come up with a proposal that we believe will have bipartisan support,” said U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

Miller said the US had “no involvement” in the attack and had “no prior knowledge of this incident”.

Israel has not yet commented on the pager explosions.

Repeated attempts at peace talks have been hampered by the refusal of the Israeli and Hamas leadership to give in on key issues.

The United Nations General Assembly is expected to adopt a Palestinian-drafted resolution within the next twelve months calling for an end to Israel's “illegal presence” in the occupied West Bank.

Since 1967, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank has been considered illegal under international law, even for Israel's allies. In July, the International Court of Justice declared Israeli settlements there illegal.

The UN General Assembly's move came ahead of a major gathering of world leaders at the United Nations, including speeches by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on September 26.

At least nine people, including a child, were killed in Lebanon when pagers belonging to the militant group Hezbollah exploded across the country.

“About 2,750 people were injured … more than 200 of them seriously,” said Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad.

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than a dozen people were injured in Syria.

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry condemned Israel’s “dangerous and deliberate escalation.”

Israel has not commented on the incident.

es/sms (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)