Israeli planes bomb southern Lebanon after radio blasts
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Smoke billowing from the site of an Israeli air strike that targeted an area in the southern Lebanese village of al-Taybeh on Sept 19.
PHOTO: AFP
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BEIRUT/JERUSALEM - Israel bombed southern Lebanon on Sept 19 and said it had thwarted an Iranian-led assassination plot after explosions in booby-trapped radios and pagers in the past two days caused bloody havoc in the ranks of its arch-foe Hezbollah.
The attacks on Hezbollah’s communications equipment
The action also sowed disarray across Lebanon as panicked residents abandoned their mobile phones.
“This isn’t a small matter, it’s war. Who can even secure their phone now? When I heard about what happened yesterday, I left my phone on my motorcycle and walked away,” said Mr Mustafa Sibal on a street in Beirut.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied being behind the attacks, but multiple security sources have said they were carried out by its spy agency Mossad.
The Lebanese army said on Sept 19 it was blowing up pagers and suspicious telecom devices in controlled blasts in different areas. It called on citizens to report any suspicious devices.
The Lebanese authorities banned walkie-talkies and pagers from being taken on flights
In Beirut on Sept 19, a distant roar in the skies could be heard from what Lebanese state media said was Israeli jets breaking the sound barrier – a sound that has grown increasingly common in recent months.
Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel the day after the Oct 7 cross-border attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas which triggered the Gaza war, and since then constant exchanges of fire have occurred, although neither side has allowed this to escalate into a full-scale war.
Israel said its warplanes struck villages in southern Lebanon overnight, and a security source and Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV reported airstrikes near the border resumed on Sept 19 just after midday.
Hand-held radios used by Hezbollah detonated on Sept 18 across Lebanon’s south.
The previous day, hundreds of pagers – used by Hezbollah to evade mobile phone surveillance – exploded at once,
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on the United Nations Security Council to take a firm stand to stop Israel’s “aggression” and “technological war” against his country.
Israel says its conflict with Hezbollah, like its war in Gaza against Palestinian militant group Hamas, is part of a wider regional confrontation with Iran, which sponsors both groups as well as armed movements in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
Assassination plot
Also on Sept 19, Israeli security forces announced that an Israeli businessman had been arrested
Last week, Shin Bet uncovered what it said was a plot by Hezbollah to assassinate former Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon.
Israel has been accused of assassinations including a blast in Tehran that killed the leader of Hamas
Despite the events of the past few days, a spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon said the situation along the frontier had “not changed much in terms of exchanges of fire between the parties”.
“There was an intensification last week. This week, it is more or less the same. There are still exchanges of fire. It is still worrying, still concerning, and the rhetoric is high,” spokesman Andrea Tenenti told Reuters.
Tens of thousands of people have had to flee the Israel-Lebanon border area on both sides since the hostilities began in October 2023.
Shifting focus
The Israeli military said its overnight air strikes hit Hezbollah targets in Chihine, Tayibe, Blida, Meiss El Jabal, Aitaroun and Kfarkela in southern Lebanon, as well as a Hezbollah weapons storage facility in the area of Khiam.
On Sept 18, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the war was moving into a new phase,
According to Israeli officials, the forces being deployed there include the 98th Division, an elite formation including commando and paratroop elements that has been fighting in Gaza. REUTERS
