Hezbollah's Nasrallah says Israel crossed “all red lines” with electronic device explosions

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Hezbollah Secretary-General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday that Israel crossed "all the red lines" by detonating thousands of communication devices used by his group's members, with the intention to kill some 5,000 of them within two minutes.

He described the attack as a "big, unprecedented and harsh security strike" against his Iran-backed militant group.

Nasrallah, in a televised speech, said the attacks that Israel carried out Tuesday and Wednesday targeting pagers and walkie-talkies recently distributed to thousands of Hezbollah members were meant to pressure Lebanon and Hezbollah to stop the fighting along the southern border to secure the return of some 80,000 displaced settlers to northern Israel.

"The Lebanese front will not stop before the aggression on Gaza comes to an end," he pledged, while Israeli warplanes flew at low altitudes over Beirut, breaking the sound barrier.

According to a new count by Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abid on Thursday, 35 people, including two children, were killed and nearly 3,000 were wounded in the pager and walkie-talkie explosions that hit various Lebanese regions, particularly Hezbollah's stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut, as well as southern and eastern Lebanon.

Hezbollah said most were members of the group working in its various units and institutions.

The unprecedented, highly sophisticated attacks started Tuesday with thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon in the most serious security breach targeting the militant group. Twelve people, including the two children, were killed and 2,323 others wounded, suffering injuries of the eyes, hands and waist area.

On Wednesday, a new wave of explosions, involving walkie-talkies, solar equipment and lithium batteries, resulted in killing 25 people and injuring 608 others across Lebanon.

"This is a big terrorist operation, a genocide, a massacre ... a big aggression against Lebanon and its people, a war crime or declaration of war. Call it anything," Nasrallah said, adding that Israel "crossed all the laws and red lines" as it intended "to kill more than 5,000 people in a minute" when it detonated thousands of the party's communications devices concurrently during two consecutive days.

He said it was "immoral and unhuman" as the explosions occurred in some hospitals, pharmacies, markets, shops, apartments, cars and in the streets where many civilians and children were present.

He added that explosions resulted in a "big number of casualties" whose real numbers will appear with time, but many suffered light injuries because, "a number of pagers were out of duty or turned off while others were not even distributed."

"No doubt, we were subjected to a big, unprecedented security strike ... a very strong and harsh one," Nasrallah said, acknowledging the technological superiority of Israel, which is backed by the United States, NATO and others. "But this attack did not bring us down and will not .... We will become stronger."

The Hezbollah chief said Israel's goal was to stop the fighting with Hezbollah along the southern border and put an end to the Lebanon front that the group opened Oct. 8 in support of Gaza and its people.

"We cannot do that ... all the sacrifices in a year of bloody confrontations would have been wasted," Nasrallah said, adding, " I say to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and [Defense Minister Yoav] Gallant, the Lebanese front will not stop before the aggression on Gaza stops .... We will not stop supporting Gaza and its people."

He said Israel also meant to "hit the structure of the resistance ... and this never happened at all from the first moment," confirming the "readiness" of his resistance fighters and forces against any possible Israeli attack, adding, "What happened did not harm our structure, command or control.

"I say [to the Israeli commanders], you will not be able to return the settlers to northern Israel and do whatever you want," he said. "The only way is to stop the war on Gaza."

He also warned Israel against any land operation against southern Lebanon to set a security zone, saying "we wish they enter the Lebanese territories and [set up] a security belt because it will turn into a trap and hell for them."

Nasrallah said his group has established up several security committees that began investigations into the explosions of the communication devices, starting with checking the manufacturing company and how the devices were transported and distributed in Lebanon.

"We reached an almost certain result," he said, giving no further details.

According to The New York Times, Israel carried out its operation against Hezbollah by implanting explosive material, as little as 1 or 2 ounces, next to the battery of each of some 3,000 pagers ordered by the militant group from a Taiwanese company.

Nasrallah vowed to punish Israel for the attacks but "will not say when and how .... We will keep it to ourselves ... in the small circle."