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.
As I said, this was a provocation intended to get Hezbollah to escalate again with the ultimate intent of getting a major war started with the hope that the US would come to Israel's aid and destroy all of Israel's enemies.
And contrary to the suggestions of some of the analysts, the US will indeed do that, despite being unable to do that.
It's all ridiculously simple, but everyone is over-thinking it.
I do fully concur. Excellent comment!
So far, Biden has avoided openly putting American lives at risk. I think you're right. But I also think his options are limited.
Do not assume that the Pentagon thinks it's a good idea for GIs to start coming home in body bags for serving as IOF support troops, right before the elections.
Where and when has this happened? Any attempt by US forces to rescue US hostages is quite reasonable.
Iran has surrounded Israel with proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis) that stood as a threat to Israel, in case Israel went to war with arch-enemy Iran.
The situation of threat was one of balance (similar to other enemies – North/South Korea, India/Pakistan, etc.) until Hamas decided to attack Israel on Oct. 7.
I personally think they did not get permission from Iran (or main parts of its government) and that it was a terrible strategic blunder – a gamble that others in the Arab/Muslim world would join them (which didn't happen) but that happened, and now I assume Israel has to consider that any threat is unacceptable. As a superior military force, they may transform Lebanon to another Gaza, rather than live with the threat of another attack.
Hezbollah has to decide what is more important – being an ally of Iran and allowing their country to be reduced to rubble, or having peaceful relations with its neighbor. They can't have it both ways.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/06/18/israel-hezbollah-lebanon-conflict-war-border-gaza/
"Hezbollah has to decide what is more important – being an ally of Iran and allowing their country to be reduced to rubble, or having peaceful relations with its neighbor" Yep. As I said more that once, the terrorists have to decide what is more important? Killing Israelis or loving their own people. Look at the price Palestinians in Gaza paid for a one killing spree by Hamas.
I think Hezbollah is more sensitive to the consequences of war than Hamas, especially after seeing the destruction of Gaza. It's one thing to get millions from Iran for being a "proxy", but sacrificing your life, your family, and your country is something else. Also, Hezbollah has no claim on Israel.
same with israel and russia and even us
red lines are just lines
just lines
The problem with red lines for the US and Israel is that nobody knows what will happen when they are crossed… until they do. In roulette, one had better be absolutely certain that they can afford the loss if they put everything on one number.
Yeah
Somebody is lying when they say the US doesn't want this regional war. My money is on Blinken.
The US benefits by regular and modest oil prices,and would suffer from home land terrorism-the US does not want a mid east war.
Well, it only takes two to make a war.
After David's post was written, Israel has bombed Lebanon. So, the attempts to make it appear that Lebanon struck first are moot. I now view the pager terrorist attack as the opening salvo of the war Netanyahu has wanted to start for several years.
I'm sure he's betting that Biden will assist due because of the upcoming election. But I'm not sure if that's going to happen. There is another war going on that does not involve direct hostilities with Lebanon. I'm talking about the economic war. Israel's economy is collapsing. This is because there are costs to be paid to keep a reserve army in constant readiness; because investors are reluctant; and because the cost of shipping has risen due to the Houthis.
Moreover, Turkey has signalled that it wants to join BRICS. Turkey is a major supplier of oil to Israel. But, if BRICS can provide a stable market for Turkey's oil, Erdogan might finally do more than talk about genocide and war crimes. He might sell his oil to someone else.
They don't need to join BRICS to cut off oil to Israel. Erdogan is a phony.
True. But Erdogan obviously doesn’t want to lose the revenue. If he could find another market in BRICS, he wouldn’t have to worry about that.
First it is not so easy to do as final destination of oil coming from the pipeline is now known. Second, the last thing Turkey wants to do is put the transmission pipeline at risk. You know it may suddenly blow up by unknown causes. They are not going to take that chance.
There is currently an abundance of oil in the world.Turkey is a net importer of oil,and producers would not like interference with thie rpipelines.
Nevertheless, Israel imports a little over 6% of its oil from Turkey, and about 41% of its oil from Azerbaijan, which relies on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline which runs through Turkey. Azerbaijan is also seeking admission to BRICS.
"Turkey is a major supplier of oil to Israel" That is not true. There is some oil the goes to Israel via a pipeline that uses Turkey. That oil is not from wells in Turkey. And Turkey does not know where that oil is going to end up.
Although my understanding of where the oil originated was wrong, I am still of the opinion that Turkey could shut down more than half of the oil imported by Israel. However, short of making an arbitrary decision, Erdoğan would have to convince Azerbaijan to support the decision. Azerbaijan is 98% Muslim. Nonetheless, I assume that a key factor in such a decision would be to find a new buyer to keep the revenue flowing.
I am relying heavily on this link.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-gaza-does-turkey-duty-cut-oil-supplies-israel
Israel crossed all red lines, and they are not going to stop, unless…..It should be clear by now there is only one way to solve this problem.
OK, I will bite. What is the one way?
Yes,the Lebanese people and government should stop allowing their country to serve as a base for terrorists.
Well the Goebbels Hasbara brigade is out in force today here I see. So will Hezbollah "mow the lawn" now?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-lebanon-airstrikes-hezbollah-amid-gaza-hamas-war-after-pagers-explode/
Since it's just been revealed Israel bombed Beirut, things are heating up to a boiling point and the below may happen:
1. Wash. will attack Hez. and maybe even Iran since the Israeli attack was implemented now because the fleet guarding the Zionists is about to go home.
2. Israel is on a roll with the Gaza and West Bank atrocities continuing, and now N. Lebanon is about to be annexed as part of the Greater Israel agenda.
3. As the ensuing chaos progresses, Israel will slaughter the red heifer and raze the Dome of the Rock to build their third temple.
4. This will cause all hell (and heaven, too?) to break loose and WWIII begins. Hope I'm wrong.
Nothing in 1 to 3 indicates that those action would lead to Russia and US exchanging nuclear weapons, AKA World War 3.
The speech was most likely pre recorder as the sonic booms in the background were not audible. Not that it matters.
Hezbollah chose to support Gaza in its war with Israel. And now 3000 of its members paid the price. It is the old story of the Middle East. People attack Israel than complain about Israel hitting them back. A good example is the Golan Heights. Syria attack Israel three times from 1948 to 1973 using the Heights to their advantage. Finally Israel have enough and Israel annexed the land. Than Syria cried "they stole our land". No Syria you lost the Golan Heights in wars that you started.
This guy’s middle name should be Blah blah. Or at least start his speeches with blah and end in blah.