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Lebanon is reeling after 32 people have now been killed in two days of device explosions across Beirut and other cities.
Hand-held walkie-talkie radios used by armed group Hezbollah detonated across Lebanon’s south on Wednesday, stoking tensions after similar explosions of the group’s pagers the day before.
Lebanon’s health ministry said 20 people were killed and more than 450 injured in the second attack in Beirut’s suburbs and the Bekaa Valley, while the death toll from the explosions the previous day rose to 12, including two children, with nearly 3,000 injured.
Israeli officials have not commented on the blasts, but security sources said Israel’s spy agency Mossad was responsible.
“We are opening a new phase in the war. It requires courage, determination and perseverance from us,” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said, adding that his country’s military focus is shifting to its northern border.
Wednesday marked Lebanon’s deadliest day since cross-border fighting erupted between Hezbollah and Israel nearly a year ago, heightening fears of an escalation into a full-blown regional war.
The Iran-backed militant group has vowed retaliation after the operations appeared to throw them into disarray.
Japanese company denies making Hezbollah’s exploding walkie-talkies
The Japanese maker of the brand of walkie-talkies linked to explosions targeting the Hezbollah armed group that killed 20 people in Lebanon and injured hundreds of others said it could not have made the exploding devices.
“There’s no way a bomb could have been integrated into one of our devices during manufacturing. The process is highly automated and fast-paced, so there’s no time for such things,” Yoshiki Enomoto a director at ICOM told Reuters outside the company’s headquarters in Osaka, Japan on Thursday.
The detonation of hand-held radios used by Hezbollah on Wednesday in Beirut’s suburbs and the Bekaa Valley, followed a series of electronic pager explosions on Tuesday that killed at least 12 people, including two children, and injured 3,000 others.
ICOM has said it halted production of the radio models identified in the attack a decade ago and that most of those still on sale were counterfeit.
“If it turns out to be counterfeit, then we’ll have to investigate how someone created a bomb that looks like our product. If it’s genuine, we’ll have to trace its distribution to figure out how it ended up there,” Enomoto said.
Tara Cobham19 September 2024 10:19
Latest arrest over alleged assassination plot highlights intelligence war running alongside conflict
The arrest of an Israeli citizen on suspicion of involvement in an Iranian-backed assassination plot highlights an intelligence war running alongside the escalating conflict on Israel’s border with southern Lebanon.
The arrest over the alleged plot targeting prominent people, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, took place last month, according to a joint statement by Shin Bet and the Israeli police issued on Thursday.
It comes after Shin Bet last week uncovered what it said was a plot by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to assassinate a former senior defence official, who was subsequently identified as the former army Chief of Staff and Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon.
Meanwhile, Israel has a long history of intelligence operations in Iran, allegedly including the assassination in July of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in a Tehran state guesthouse.
Shin Bet said the latest arrest showed the efforts Iran was making to recruit Israelis to gather intelligence and carry out terrorist missions in Israel, including by using individuals with criminal backgrounds.
According to the Shin Bet statement, the plot went back to April this year when the Israeli, who has not been identified, agreed to meet a wealthy businessman living in Iran for business purposes.
After being told by representatives that the businessman, identified only as Adi, could not leave Iran, the Israeli man was smuggled into Iran from eastern Turkey, where he met Adi and others, including a man identified as an Iranian security official, the statement said.
The Iranians proposed that he carry out tasks for Iran including transferring money or a gun, photographing crowded places or threatening other Israeli civilians operating on behalf of Iran who did not carry out the requested missions, it continued.
He returned to Israel but went back to Iran for a second time in August, smuggled in a truck, the statement said.
On the second visit, it said Iranian officials asked him to carry out terrorist attacks for Iran and made proposals for assassinating Netanyahu or Gallant or Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar as well as other operations.
It added that the Israeli man asked for a payment of $1 million, but Iranian officials refused the request, saying however they would remain in touch and paying him 5,000 euros ($5,570.50) for joining the meetings.
Tara Cobham19 September 2024 10:16
Netanyahu accuses Labour of ‘sending mixed messages’ over UK’s support for Israel
Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Labour of “sending mixed messages” over the UK’s support for Israel and of “undermining” his country’s right to self-defence.
The Israeli prime minister also told the Daily Mail that Sir Keir Starmer’s administration has been making “misguided” decisions and is “sending a horrible message” to Hamas.
It comes after the British government suspended around 30 of its 350 arms export licences to Israel amid fears they could be used to breach international humanitarian law relating to the treatment of Palestinian detainees and the supply of aid to Gaza.
Tara Cobham19 September 2024 09:38
Watch live: View of Beirut following walkie-talkie explosions as Israel blamed for pager attack
Tara Cobham19 September 2024 08:59
Full story: At least 20 dead as walkie-talkies explode in Lebanon as Israel declares ‘new phase of war’ against Hezbollah
Handheld radios used by Hezbollah exploded across Lebanon on Wednesday in a second wave of deadly blasts as Israel’s defence minister declared his country was entering a “new phase of war” on its northern border.
At least 20 people were killed and 450 injured by the detonations, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
Chief international correspondent Bel Trew and Chris Stevenson report:
Tara Cobham19 September 2024 08:30
Israeli security services arrest Israeli man over alleged Iranian-backed assassination plot
Israeli security services said they had arrested an Israeli citizen on suspicion of involvement in an Iranian-backed assassination plot targeting prominent people including the prime minister.
It said the person was a businessman with connections in Turkey who had attended at least two meetings in Iran to discuss the possibility of assassinating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant or the head of the Shin Bet intelligence agency.
Tara Cobham19 September 2024 08:10
Israeli forces strike Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon amid escalating tensions
The Israeli military launched air and artillery strikes on multiple targets in southern Lebanon overnight, targeting Iranian-backed Hezbollah strongholds.
The strikes, confirmed by the Israeli military on Thursday, hit key locations including Chihine, Tayibe, Blida, Meiss El Jabal, Aitaroun, and Kfarkela.
A Hezbollah weapons storage facility in Khiam was also targeted.
Reports suggest Israeli civilians were injured by anti-tank missile fire from Lebanon, although officials have yet to confirm.
This latest escalation follows months of cross-border exchanges between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants. On Wednesday, Hezbollah fired around 20 projectiles into Israel, with most intercepted by air defence systems.
The Golan Heights, a strategic area with key Israeli surveillance and air defence installations, was also targeted with around 10 missiles.Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border continue to spiral, sparking concerns of a broader conflict.
Namita Singh19 September 2024 08:04
British-educated businesswoman denies making explosive Hezbollah pagers
The handheld devices killed at least 12 people and injured 3,000 after they simultaneously detonated across Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday afternoon in a suspected Israeli operation.
The Taiwanese company whose branding was on the technology claimed Budapest-based firm BAC Consultancy made the devices under a three-year brand licensing agreement.
Namita Singh19 September 2024 07:52
Iran and Europe seek diplomatic breakthrough on nukes amid tensions
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian is set to meet European officials at the UN General Assembly in New York next week, marking a crucial test of whether the two sides can revive diplomatic efforts over Iran’s nuclear programme.
The talks will come amid high tensions in the Middle East, only made worse by the explosions of pagers and hand-held radios used by the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Mr Pezeshkian’s visit, his first to the West since his election in July, takes place just six weeks before the US presidential election, which could see former president Donald Trump, a staunch opponent of compromise with Iran, return to office. According to three Iranian officials, Mr Pezeshkian will convey that “Tehran is open to diplomacy” but will not succumb to pressure.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, rather than Mr Pezeshkian, holds the authority on Tehran’s nuclear and foreign policy. An Iranian official told Reuters, “Iran’s rulers believe that the tense standoff with the West over Iran’s nuclear programme should end… but through negotiations from a position of power, not pressure”.
Namita Singh19 September 2024 07:51
UN Security Council to meet over pager blasts
World leaders are gearing up for a pivotal meeting at the United Nations next week, with over 130 leaders expected to attend.
The gathering comes at a critical time, as conflicts in the Middle East and Europe threaten to spread, and frustration mounts over the slow pace of efforts to resolve them. The wars in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan are expected to take centre stage, dominating the annual high-level UN General Assembly.
Diplomats and analysts are tempered in their expectations, warning that breakthroughs are unlikely.
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres has expressed concern that the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine are “stuck with no peaceful solutions in sight”.
The situation in the Middle East is further complicated by escalating tensions in Lebanon, where Hezbollah has accused Israel of carrying out a wave of deadly attacks.
“There is a serious risk of a dramatic escalation in Lebanon, and everything must be done to avoid that escalation,” Mr Guterres told reporters on Wednesday.
Namita Singh19 September 2024 07:05
News Summary:
- Hezbollah pager explosions – live: Device attacks across Lebanon kill 32
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