Tel Aviv: Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time during Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting, admitted that Israel was behind the attacks on Hezbollah’s pager and walkie-talkies, which killed at least 39 people and wounded over 3,000, as reported by The Times of Israel.
Netanyahu admits Israel’s role in Hezbollah pager, walkie-talkie attacks
The attacks on September 17 and 18 targeted thousands of handheld pagers and hundreds of walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members throughout Lebanon and Syria. Netanyahu reportedly said, “The pager operation and the elimination of [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah were carried out despite the opposition of senior officials in the defence establishment and those responsible for them in the political echelon.” This remark was a thinly veiled jab at IDF and intelligence leaders, as well as recently dismissed defense minister Yoav Gallant.
According to The Times of Israel, last week, Netanyahu dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, citing a lack of trust, and appointed Israel Katz, who had been serving as Foreign Minister, as his replacement. Netanyahu and Gallant reportedly clashed multiple times during their tenure in government.
Previously, Israel had not publicly claimed responsibility for the attacks on Hezbollah, in which pagers and walkie-talkies exploded in two waves on September 17 and 18, leading to at least 39 fatalities. The Times of Israel reported that Lebanon claimed nearly 3,000 others were wounded, without specifying the breakdown between civilians and Hezbollah members; among the injured was Tehran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani. Following the incident, various media outlets described the attack as a highly sophisticated Israeli intelligence operation, years in development, where Hezbollah was deceived into buying the compromised devices.
The explosions were followed by a series of Israeli airstrikes that targeted much of Hezbollah’s command structure, including leader Hassan Nasrallah, along with a limited ground operation in southern Lebanon aimed at neutralizing immediate threats to Israel’s northern border communities. Earlier, Lebanon’s health ministry reported that the national death toll in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict had surpassed 3,000, without distinguishing between civilians and combatants. The IDF estimated that approximately 3,000 Hezbollah operatives had been killed, along with around 100 members from other militant groups in Lebanon.
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