File image.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah mourned 37 of its fighters in less than 72 hours as a result of a series of Israeli strikes and a sabotage attack that targeted the group’s communication systems.
The group announced the death of eight fighters on September 17 and 11 more the next day. An additional 18 fighters were mourned on September 18.
Most of these fighters were killed when pagers and handheld radios recently distributed by the group to its members exploded on September 17 and 18. The devices were reportedly rigged with explosives by Israeli intelligence services before being shipped to Lebanon some five months ago.
The sabotage attack claimed the lives of 32 people, including two children and a medical worker, and left more than 3,200 others wounded across Lebanon.
The remaining fighters were killed in a series of Israeli strikes that targeted several towns in southern Lebanon, including Chihine, Taybeh, Blida, Mays al-Jabal, Aitaroun, Kafr Kila, Khiam, Jebbayn, Halta, Chama, Odaisseh, Markaba, Maroun al-Ras, Chihine and Majdal Selm, between September 17 and 19. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) released videos of some of these strikes.
Hezbollah and its allies in Lebanon have been launching attacks against the IDF in support of the Gaza Strip since the outbreak of the Israeli war on the Palestinian enclave last October.
While the IDF has for the most part limited its response to air and artillery strikes, the latest sabotage attack suggests that Israel is preparing to escalate against Hezbollah and may be even on the brink of launching a full-on invasion into Lebanon.
So far, the limited confrontation resulted in 26 civilian deaths in Israel and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights as well as the deaths of at least 20 soldiers and security officers. On the Lebanese side, more than 900 people have been killed, including 478 fighters of Hezbollah and over 150 civilians.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
