Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander Hossein Salami promised Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah that the "axis of resistance" would have a "crushing response" to the explosion of thousands of Hezbollah communication devices this week.
“Such terrorist acts are undoubtedly the result of the Zionist regime’s despair and successive failures. This will soon be met with a crushing response from the axis of resistance and we will witness the destruction of this bloodthirsty and criminal regime," Salami said, according to Lebanese media.
Nasrallah spoke out for the first time Thursday evening on the blows Hezbollah suffered with the explosions of its communication devices on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"Israel crossed all the red lines by detonating thousands of pagers. This could be called a declaration of war," Nasrallah stated. He added that "the devices exploded in unison, in the hospitals as well. As a result of the aggression, dozens were killed, including women and children, and thousands were injured. The true numbers will come with time. This is an act of terror, massacre, genocide. More than 4,000 pagers were distributed to the organization's operatives.
"We undoubtedly suffered a major security and humanitarian blow, unprecedented in the history of man and maybe in the history of the conflict. We were hit hard, but that's the situation in war. We understand that the enemy has technological supremacy. Especially since it is supported by the US and the West. When we are in conflict we bet on Jihad, on attrition. We had many victories until now."
One of the people who was wounded in the pager explosions on Tuesday is the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, who reportedly lost an eye in the incident.
Iran is the patron of the Hezbollah terrorist organization.