Lebanon news live updates: Serial explosions threaten to spiral into all-out war in Middle East

Hezbollah-Israel tensions live updates: Israel on Wednesday stated that the “centre of gravity” of the Gaza conflict is shifting towards its northern border with Lebanon. The country is reallocating resources in preparation for a possible escalation in the region, news agency AFP reported. Dig deeper

Hezbollah-Israel tensions live updates: On Thursday, Turkey accused Israel of attempting to broaden the Gaza conflict into Lebanon, describing a series of deadly explosions in Hezbollah-controlled areas as “alarming,” Reuters reported.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, speaking on state-run TRT television, stated, “The escalation in the region is alarming,” and added, “We see Israel mounting its attacks towards Lebanon step by step.”

Hezbollah-Israel tensions live updates: Israeli security services said on Thursday they arrested an Israeli citizen last month on suspicion of involvement in an Iranian-backed assassination plot targeting prominent people including the PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

The accused was a businessman with connections in Turkey. He allegedly attended at least two meetings in Iran to discuss the possibility of assassinating Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant or the head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency.

Hezbollah-Israel tensions live updates: A second deadly wave of unprecedented explosions in the strongholds of Lebanon’s Hezbollah left it in disarray on Thursday, hours before a major speech by its beleaguered leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The latest batch of device explosions killed 20 people and wounded more than 450 others on Wednesday, officials said, stoking fears of a full-blown war with Israel. Read more

Hezbollah-Israel tensions live updates: United States Secretary of Defence Lloyd J. Austin spoke with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and reiterated “unwavering US support for Israel in the face of threats from Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah, and Iran’s other regional partners.” He also reviewed regional security developments.

The Pentagon, in a press release, further said that Austin stressed the US’ efforts to de-escalate tensions across the region and reaffirmed the priority of achieving a Gaza ceasefire deal that will bring home hostages held by Hamas.

Hezbollah-Israel tensions live updates: Reports from southern Lebanon indicate that angry civilians are throwing stones at UNIFIL personnel who came to provide medical aid during a new wave of exploding communication devices. Residents apparently demand that the international peacekeepers be expelled.

Hezbollah-Israel tensions live updates: Till the time that pagers and hand-held radios of Iranian terror proxy Hezbollah started exploding, surprise was the element always in favor of the terrorists. After the pin-pointed assassination of Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, another proxy of Iran, through covert action by Israel, on July 31, the exploding pagers and radio receivers in Lebanon construe a new chapter in counter-terrorism. The Israeli intelligence has virtually redeemed itself after the humongous failure on October 7, 2023 by humiliating Iran and its terror proxies in the Middle-East. Read more

Hezbollah-Israel tensions live updates: According to Gold Apollo Co, the Taiwanese company whose brand was on the exploding devices, the manufacturer of these pagers is BAC Consulting Kft in Budapest, which produced thousands of such devices under a commercial agreement.

In a corporate registry, the company listed 118 official functions, including sugar and oil production, retail jewellery sales and natural gas extraction, AP reported.

Hezbollah-Israel tensions live updates: Japanese firm Icom said that it had stopped producing the model of radios reportedly used in recent blasts in Lebanon around 10 years ago.

“The IC-V82 is a handheld radio that was produced and exported, including to the Middle East, from 2004 to October 2014. It was discontinued about 10 years ago, and since then, it has not been shipped from our company,” Icom said in a statement.

Icom also said it is not possible to confirm the origin of those devices due to a lack of hologram seal to distinguish fake products.

Hezbollah-Israel tensions live updates: Lebanese health ministry directed health workers to urgently report to work considering the “large number of injured people being transferred to hospitals” after the pager explosions, CNN reported. Officials have also urged people to donate blood in anticipation of increased need.

Hezbollah-Israel tensions live updates: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said, “We will return the residents of the north securely to their homes,” he said in a brief video statement, giving no further details. Returning the evacuees home was made a formal objective of the war, with Israel adding that war might be the only way to stop Hezbollah’s rocket attacks in the north and enable its civilians to return to their homes there.

Hezbollah-Israel tensions live updates: Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant’s statement added to fears that war might escalate between the two sides. “The centre of gravity is moving north, meaning that we are allocating forces, resources and energy for the northern arena. We are at the start of a new phase in the war, and we must adapt.”

Hezbollah-Israel tensions live updates: According to Gold Apollo Co, the Taiwanese company whose brand was on the exploding devices, the manufacturer of these pagers is BAC Consulting Kft, which produced them under a commercial agreement. But Budapest government said the company is only a “trading intermediary with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary”. Gold Apollo’s chairman in Taiwan, said he was puzzled when BAC asked to license production of its AR-924 pager two years ago but went ahead with what seemed a ‘routine’ deal.

Hezbollah-Israel tensions live updates: Militant group Hezbollah said it attacked Israeli artillery positions with rockets, the first strike at its arch-foe since the blasts. The response raises the prospect of a wider Middle East war.

Hezbollah-Israel tensions live: Lebanon’s Information Minister Ziyad Makari told Al-Jazeera TV that his country didn’t fear Hezbollah’s response, but “Israel and its crimes.” “What happened is a new kind of warfare, and investigations are ongoing by the state and Hezbollah,” he said.

“There will certainly be coordination between the state and the group to investigate, because the attack is on Lebanese sovereignty as a whole,” he added.