Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu Says He approved Hezbollah Pager Attacks

P.C.-ANI

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly confirmed that he gave the green light to a deadly military operation targeting Hezbollah militants in Lebanon in September.

The attack, which involved remotely detonated explosions on pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members, resulted in the deaths of nearly 40 people and left around 3,000 others injured.

Netanyahu's admission came on Sunday, following a report by his spokesperson Omer Dostri, who stated that the Prime Minister had approved the operation.

Prior to this, Israel had neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in the attack, which has been widely attributed to Israeli forces. The explosions, set off remotely, targeted communication devices used by Hezbollah members, a tactic that has drawn sharp criticism from various quarters.

Lebanon Files Complaint with the UN

In response to the September attack, Lebanon has lodged an official complaint with the United Nations. The Lebanese government took the issue to the International Labour Organization (ILO), a major U.N. body that addresses international labor standards and disputes.

The complaint was formally submitted in Geneva by Lebanese Labor Minister Moustafa Bayram, who condemned the attack as a dangerous escalation in the methods of modern warfare.

Bayram warned that the use of such tactics could set a dangerous precedent, allowing others to avoid international humanitarian laws and apply similar methods in future conflicts. 

Hezbollah's Retaliatory Strikes

The pager attack comes amid an increasingly volatile situation in Lebanon, where Hezbollah has been involved in escalating hostilities with Israel since late September. Following Israel's aggressive airstrikes against Hezbollah positions and its subsequent ground troop deployment in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah launched a series of retaliatory strikes on Israel.

The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel intensified after Hezbollah's support for Hamas during the ongoing war in Gaza, which began with the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel.

The situation has raised significant concerns about the potential for a wider regional conflict, with both Hezbollah and Israel showing little inclination to de-escalate the violence in the near future.