Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed that he authorized the deadly pager attacks in Lebanon that killed nearly 40 people and injured 3,000, mostly Hezbollah members, in September. Netanyahu’s admission came on Sunday through his spokesperson, Omer Dostri, who told AFP that the operation was greenlit by the Israeli leader.
On September 17 and 18, thousands of pagers exploded in Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon, which Hezbollah and its Iranian allies immediately blamed on Israel. The blasts resulted in severe injuries for many Hezbollah fighters, with some losing fingers or their eyesight. Hezbollah called the attacks a violation of its communications network and vowed retaliation.
The pagers, used by Hezbollah as a low-tech communication method to avoid Israeli tracking, were targeted as part of Israel’s broader military objectives against Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas. The attack on the pagers came just hours after Israel announced it was expanding its military operations to target Hezbollah along the Lebanon-Israel border, following Hamas’ deadly attack on Israeli towns on October 7, 2023.
In response to the attacks, Lebanon filed a formal complaint this week with the United Nations Labour Agency, describing the attack as an “egregious war against humanity.”
The violence between Israel and Hezbollah has intensified since the onset of the war in Gaza, with Israel conducting frequent airstrikes on Hezbollah positions in southern Beirut. Earlier this week, Israeli airstrikes targeted Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut, causing minor damage to the nearby international airport.
Since the conflict escalated, over 3,000 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, with both Hezbollah and Israel suffering significant casualties, including key figures such as Hashem Safieddine, a senior Hezbollah leader, who was killed by an Israeli strike last month.
