Hezbollah promised to retaliate against Israel after accusing it of detonating pagers throughout Lebanon, killing nine and wounding over 4,000 others, including fighters and Iran's envoy to Beirut.
Reuters reported that Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary condemned the detonation of the pagers that Hezbollah uses in Lebanon to send messages, calling it "Israeli aggression." Hezbollah said Israel would receive "its fair punishment" for the blasts.
The Israeli military, which has been involved in cross-border fighting with Iran-backed Hezbollah since the outbreak of the war in Gaza in October 2023, declined to respond to questions about the pager explosions.
"This is not a security targeting of one, two or three people. They have targeted an entire nation," said Hussein Khalil, senior Hezbollah official.
Lebanese broadcaster Al Jadeed cited Ali Ammar, whose son was killed in the explosions, as promising consequences. "We will deal with the enemy in the language it understands," he stated.
Hezbollah has said it wants to avoid a full-blown conflict with Israel, but only an end to the Gaza war will stop clashes between the two rivals. The efforts at a ceasefire in Gaza remain deadlocked after months of talks, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US.