The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said it struck hundreds of rocket launcher sites across southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah’s leader attacked Israel for crossing a “red line”.
Israel’s military said the Israeli Air Force (IAF) carried out the strikes across two hours late Thursday evening, marking the first major attack since Lebanon was hit by pager and walkie-talkie explosions earlier in the week.
The explosions – blamed on Israeli operations – have killed 37 and injured thousands. Israel has not directly commented on the attacks which, according to security sources, were probably carried out by its Mossad spy agency.
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A statement from the IDF said the sites targeted by the IAF had rocket launcher barrels which were “ready to be used immediately to fire toward Israeli territory”.
“Since this afternoon, the IAF has struck approximately 100 launchers and additional terrorist infrastructure sites, consisting of approximately 1,000 barrels that were ready to be used in the immediate future to fire toward Israeli territory,” they added.
On the same day, the Israeli military said two of its soldiers were killed in the north of Israel: Local news outlet N12 News reported one was killed by a drone and the other by an anti-tank missile fired by Hezbollah across the Lebanese border.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech the “unprecedented” pager and walkie-talkie explosions “could be called a declaration of war”.
He blamed Israel for the attacks, saying they “crossed all the red lines,” and vowed they would be met “with a just punishment”.
During Nasrallah’s speech, in which he called the blasts a “massacre” and a “test” for Hezbollah, sonic booms were heard over Beirut which shook buildings.
The Hezbollah leader added 4,000 pagers carried by members exploded in hospitals, shops, cars and streets “where many civilians were” on Tuesday.
A thousand walkie-talkies then exploded Wednesday.
It comes as the IDF said it will review an incident where Israeli soldiers pushed three apparently lifeless bodies from rooftops during a raid in the occupied West Bank.
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An Associated Press (AP) journalist at the scene witnessed the incident, and the news agency obtained and verified footage where three Israeli soldiers can be seen picking up what appears to be a stiff body and then dragging it toward the edge of a roof.
Troops are seen standing on the ground below. Soldiers on the roof then peer over the edge before heaving the body off.
In a statement, the Israeli military said the incident is “under review,” and added: “This is a serious incident that does not coincide with IDF values and the expectations from IDF soldiers.”