Israel Hezbollah War Live Updates: Israeli military says two of its soldiers killed near Lebanon border

Israel on Thursday carried out fresh air strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon while several of its low-flying jets caused sonic booms over Beirut where Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was addressing his supporters.

The Israeli army said the strikes were part of its efforts to return displaced Israelis to their homes in northern Israel. "The army is currently striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon to degrade Hezbollah's terrorist capabilities and infrastructure," IDF said in a statement.

The fresh air strikes came after thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies exploded across Lebanon, killing at least 37 people and wounding around 3,000, including many Hezbollah fighters.

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied being behind the explosions but multiple security sources have said they were carried out by its spy agency Mossad.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Sayyed Nasrallah said on Thursday the attacks on his group's communications devices blamed on Israel will be met with "just punishment".

Israeli jets are carrying out huge sonic booms over the Lebanese capital, Beirut, during a speech by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday, a Reuters witness said.
Lebanese residents, already on edge following this week's blasts across the country that the group blamed on Israel, were panicked fearing a major escalation.

Israel's army announced new strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Thursday, as warning sirens rang out in northern Israel, indicating possible incoming fire.
The army "is currently striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon to degrade Hezbollah's terrorist capabilities and infrastructure," a statement said, adding that it was part of efforts to return displaced Israelis to their homes in the north.

Leaders of a Democratic protest vote movement against the Israel-Hamas war said on Thursday that they would not endorse Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential bid but strongly urged their supporters to vote against Donald Trump in November. The "Uncommitted" movement drew hundreds of thousands of votes in Democratic primaries earlier this year in protest of President Joe Bide's handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

The group's leaders urged the administration to change its policy on the conflict, warning that some Democratic voters might otherwise abstain from voting in November, particularly in swing state Michigan.

In a span of two days, a macabre wave of explosions erupted across Lebanon. The dead and wounded were everywhere: pagers and two-way radios used by Hezbollah militants had detonated in their hands, homes, and offices—even during funerals. The blasts marked the latest chapter in Israel's shadow war against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, responsible for lobbing rockets into northern Israel for nearly a year.At least 30 people were killed, over thousands wounded in these explosions, and the scale of destruction hinted at meticulous preparation by Israeli intelligence. The twin attacks have left Hezbollah in shock, reeling from what is now understood to be one of the most intricate operations of Israel’s intelligence agency - Mossad.

The Japanese maker of the brand of walkie-talkies linked to explosions targeting the Hezbollah armed group that killed 20 people in Lebanon and injured hundreds of others said it could not have made the exploding devices.

"There’s no way a bomb could have been integrated into one of our devices during manufacturing. The process is highly automated and fast-paced, so there’s no time for such things," Yoshiki Enomoto a director at ICOM told Reuters outside the company's headquarters in Osaka, Japan on Thursday.

The detonation of hand-held radios used by Hezbollah on Wednesday in Beirut's suburbs and the Bekaa Valley, followed a series of electronic pager explosions on Tuesday that killed at least 12 people, including two children, and injured 3,000 others.

Bulgaria will investigate a company linked to the sale of pagers to Lebanon's militant group Hezbollah that exploded this week in a coordinated attack, the state security agency said on Thursday.
Bulgaria's state security agency, DANS, said in a statement that it is working with the interior ministry to probe the role of a company registered in Bulgaria, without naming it.

It said that it did not detect any shipments of the suspected pagers on Bulgarian territory.

Israel's military on Thursday said that it hit 7 Hezbollah sites in overnight air strikes in southern Lebanon.

Israel's police arrested an Israeli citizen recruited by Iranian intelligence to plot the assassinations of top Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a joint statement by the police and Shin Bet said Thursday.

"An Israeli citizen was recruited by Iranian intelligence to promote assassinations of Israeli figures. He was smuggled twice into Iran and received payment for carrying out missions," the statement said.

It said that Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar as well as other top officials were among the targets.

The Israeli citizen, "a businessman who lived in Turkey for an extended period," maintained connections with Turkish and Iranian individuals, the police said.

Israeli media reported that the arrested man was a Jewish person from the city of Ashkelon.

The police said he was asked while in Iran to carry out security missions in Israel, including transferring "money or a gun" and threatening other Israelis recruited by Iran, before later being asked to plot assassinations.

"This is a very serious case that exemplifies the enormous efforts of Iranian intelligence agents to recruit Israeli citizens to promote terrorist activities in Israel", a senior Shin Bet official was quoted as saying.

Israel bombed southern Lebanon on Thursday and said it had thwarted an Iran-backed assassination plot, a day after explosions of Hezbollah radios followed blasts in booby-trapped pagers, setting the foes hurtling towards war.

The sophisticated attacks on communications equipment used by Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah have sown disarray in Lebanon, and are increasingly viewed as heralding a return to all-out war, last fought 18 years ago.

Hand-held radios used by Hezbollah detonated on Wednesday across Lebanon's south in the country's deadliest day since cross-border fighting erupted between the militants and Israel in parallel with the Gaza war nearly a year ago.

The previous day, hundreds of pagers - used by Hezbollah to evade mobile phone surveillance - exploded at once, killing 12 people including two children, and injuring nearly 3,000.

Israel has not commented directly on the attacks, but multiple security sources have said was carried out by its spy agency Mossad.

Israeli security services said on Thursday they had arrested an Israeli citizen last month on suspicion of involvement in an Iranian-backed assassination plot. The businessman with connections in Turkey had attended at least two meetings in Iran to discuss assassinating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the defence minister or the head of the Shin Bet spy agency.

Overnight, Israeli jets and artillery hit multiple targets in southern Lebanon, Israel's military said.

The military said air strikes hit Hezbollah targets in Chihine, Tayibe, Blida, Meiss El Jabal, Aitaroun and Kfarkela in southern Lebanon, as well as a Hezbollah weapons storage facility in the area of Khiam.

Turkey on Thursday accused Israel of expanding Gaza war to Lebanon 'step by step'.

German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock on Thursday called for restraint in the Middle East after a second deadly wave of unprecedented device explosions at Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon.

"I warn all sides against further escalation," Baerbock wrote on social media platform X. "Strikes and counterstrikes do not bring the region one millimetre closer to peace".

Israel's defence minister has declared the start of a "new phase" of the war as Israel turns its focus toward the northern front against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. Two waves of explosive attacks hit Syria and Lebanon: an apparent Israeli attack targeting pagers used by Hezbollah that killed at least 12 and wounded nearly 3,000 on Tuesday, and exploding walkie-talkies and other electronics Wednesday across Lebanon that killed at least 20 people and injured 450 others.
"We are at the start of a new phase in the war - it requires courage, determination and perseverance," Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told troops on Wednesday.

The head of Hezbollah's Executive Council promised the group would respond to Tuesday's pager explosion attack with "special punishment."

Hezbollah began striking Israel almost immediately after Hamas' October 7 attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war. Since then, Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire daily, coming close to a full-blown war on several occasions and forcing tens of thousands on both sides of the border to evacuate their homes.

Gaza's Health Ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since Hamas' October 7 attack. The ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count but says a little over half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

Israeli security services said they had arrested an Israeli citizen on suspicion of involvement in an Iranian-backed assassination plot targeting prominent people including the prime minister.

It said the person was a businessman with connections in Turkey who had attended at least two meetings in Iran to discuss the possibility of assassinating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant or the head of the Shin Bet intelligence agency.

Israeli jets and artillery hit multiple targets in southern Lebanon overnight, Israel's military said on Thursday, amid spiralling tensions following the mass attack on Hezbollah communications devices this week.

The military said air strikes hit Hezbollah targets in Chihine, Tayibe, Blida, Meiss El Jabal, Aitaroun and Kfarkela in southern Lebanon, as well as a Hezbollah weapons storage facility in the area of Khiam.

Israeli media reported that a number of Israeli civilians had been wounded by anti-tank missile fire from Lebanon but there was no official confirmation.

The latest Israeli strikes follow a period of sharply spiralling concern over an escalation of the conflict on the border with southern Lebanon, where Israeli forces have been exchanging fire with Iranian-backed Hezbollah for months.

On Wednesday, Hezbollah fired around 20 projectiles into Israel, most of which were intercepted by air defence systems without causing any injuries, the military said.

Around 10 missiles were fired at the Mount Hermon area of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, where Israel has key surveillance, espionage and air defence installations.

Japan’s Icom Inc, whose brand appears on walkie-talkies that exploded in Lebanon, said it discontinued production a decade ago of the model photographed in the attacks and is still investigating the situation.

Icom exported its IC-V82 two-way radio to regions including the Middle East until October 2014, when it stopped making the devices, the Osaka-based company said in a statement Thursday.It has also halted production of the batteries needed to operate the main unit, it said.

Chaos broke out in Lebanon, already reeling from the blasts the day before, when a new explosion struck on Wednesday during an outdoor funeral in the southern suburbs for two victims. The blast sent thousands of mourners into a panic, with many rushing to find shelter in nearby buildings.

The explosions on Tuesday resulted in at least 12 deaths and thousands of injuries.The following day, the violence intensified with a second wave of detonations. This time, explosions occurred in Beirut and other areas, including during a funeral for victims of the earlier attack. The death toll from this second round reached at least 20, with hundreds more injured.

More than 130 world leaders will meet at the United Nations next week, faced with wars in the Middle East and Europe threatening to spread, frustration at the slow pace of efforts to end those conflicts, and worsening climate and humanitarian crises.

While the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Russia's war in Ukraine are set to dominate the annual high-level U.N. General Assembly, diplomats and analysts say they don't expect progress toward peace.

"The wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan are going to be the three main crisis-points in focus at the General Assembly. I don't think we are likely to see breakthroughs on any of them," said Richard Gowan, U.N. director at the International Crisis Group.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last week told Reuters that the wars in Gaza and Ukraine were "stuck with no peaceful solutions in sight."

Concerns about a spillover of the Gaza conflict to the broader Middle East have again escalated after Lebanese militant group Hezbollah accused Israel of detonating pagers and hand-held radios in two days of deadly attacks. Israel has not commented on the accusation.

"There is a serious risk of a dramatic escalation in Lebanon, and everything must be done to avoid that escalation," Guterres told reporters on Wednesday.

The war in besieged Gaza was triggered by a Hamas attack on civilians in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, two weeks after world leaders finished their annual gathering last year.

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.

The blasts came a day after the simultaneous detonation of pagers used by Hezbollah killed 12 people, including two children, and wounded up to 2,800 others across Lebanon, in an unprecedented attack blamed on Israel.

Walkie-talkies used by its members exploded in the latest blasts at Hezbollah's Beirut stronghold, a source close to the group said, with state media reporting similar detonations in south and east Lebanon.

AFPTV footage showed people running for cover when an explosion went off during a funeral for Hezbollah militants in south Beirut in the afternoon.

"The wave of enemy explosions that targeted walkie talkies... killed 20 people and wounded more than 450," Lebanon's health ministry said in a statement.

There was no comment from Israel, which only hours before Tuesday's explosions had announced it was broadening the aims of its war in Gaza to include its fight against Hamas's ally Hezbollah.

"The centre of gravity is moving northward," Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said during a visit to an air base on Wednesday. "We are at the start of a new phase in the war."

Amos Harel of the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper said the pager and walkie-talkie blasts had put "Israel and Hezbollah on the brink of all-out war".

Japanese firm Icom said Thursday 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.

"The production of the batteries needed to operate the main unit has also been discontinued, and a hologram seal to distinguish counterfeit products was not attached, so it is not possible to confirm whether the product shipped from our company," it said.

It added that products for overseas markets are sold exclusively through its authorized distributors, and that its export programme is based on Japanese security trade control regulations.

"All of our radios are manufactured at our production subsidiary, Wakayama Icom Inc., in Wakayama Prefecture, under a strict management system... so no parts other than those specified by our company are used in a product. In addition, all of our radios are manufactured at the same factory, and we do not manufacture them overseas," the statement said.

Taiwan's national security team is "paying great attention" to the detonation of thousands of pagers targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon, the island's defence minister said, after a Taiwanese firm was linked to the pagers' production.

Taiwan-based Gold Apollo said it did not manufacture the devices used in the attack, and that they were made by a Budapest-based company which has a licence to use its brand.

Speaking to reporters in Taipei, Taiwan Defence Minister Wellington Koo said the government was closely watching developments.

"After the news came out, my understanding is that at present the relevant national security bodies are paying great attention to this," he said, without elaborating. Koo was speaking on Wednesday, in comments embargoed until Thursday.

Iran-backed Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel, which has not claimed responsibility for the detonations that killed nine people. The two sides have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the Gaza conflict erupted last October.

Israel, like most countries, does not have formal diplomatic relations with Chinese-claimed Taiwan, but the two maintain de facto embassies and have close, though unofficial, ties.

Taipei moved quickly to condemn the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Palestinian Hamas militants, which triggered the Gaza war, and offered Taiwan's strong support and sympathy to Israel.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is also known as MbS, on Wednesday strongly denounced the "crimes of the Israeli occupation" against the Palestinian people. He asserted that the kingdom would not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

"The kingdom will not stop its tireless work towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and we affirm that the kingdom will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without that," the crown prince said who was addressing the advisory Shura Council on behalf of his father, King Salman.

US defense secretary Lloyd Austin spoke on Wednesday with Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant to review regional security developments and reiterate US support for Israel in the face of threats from Iran, Hezbollah and other Iranian allies, the Pentagon said.

On Wednesday, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) chief of the general staff, LTG Herzi Halevi, held a situational assessment at the Northern Command with members of the General Staff Forum, and approved offensive and defensive plans for the northern arena, where he pledged to return homes those Israelis from the northern part of the country who were evacuated due to security concerns.

"We are determined to create the security conditions that will return the residents to their homes, to the communities, with a high level of security, and we are ready to do all that is required to bring about these things," said Halevi. "Throughout the war for almost a year, we have been fighting in Gaza with two main goals, as well as others - dismantling Hamas and returning the hostages. We have achieved a lot, and we still have further forward to go."

"We still have many capabilities that we have not yet activated," he added. "We saw some of these things here, and it seems to me that the readiness is good and we are preparing these plans going forward. The rule is that every time we work on a certain stage, the next two stages are already ready to advance. At each stage, the price for Hezbollah must be high."

Japanese radio equipment maker Icom Inc said on Thursday that it was investigating the facts regarding news reports that two-way radio devices bearing its logo have exploded in Lebanon.

Hand-held radios used by armed group Hezbollah detonated on Wednesday across Lebanon's south, after similar explosions of the group's pagers the day before. Images of the exploded walkie-talkies showed labels with "ICOM" and "made in Japan."

Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed Icom said in a statement that it would release updated information on the matter as it becomes available on its website.

A second wave of device explosions killed 20 people and wounded more than 450 others on Wednesday in Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon, officials said, stoking fears of an all-out war with Israel.

A source close to Hezbollah said walkie-talkies used by its members blew up in its Beirut stronghold, with state media reporting similar blasts in south and east Lebanon.

AFPTV footage showed people running for cover when an explosion went off during a funeral for Hezbollah militants in south Beirut in the afternoon.

"The wave of enemy explosions that targeted walkie talkies... killed 20 people and wounded more than 450," Lebanon's health ministry said in a statement.

They came a day after the simultaneous explosion of hundreds of paging devices used by Hezbollah killed 12 people, including two children, and wounded up to 2,800 others across Lebanon, in an unprecedented attack blamed on Israel.

There was no comment from Israel, which only hours before Tuesday's attacks had announced it was broadening the aims of its war with Hamas in Gaza to include its fight against the Palestinian group's ally Hezbollah.

"The centre of gravity is moving northward," Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said during a visit to an air base on Wednesday. "We are at the start of a new phase in the war."

Israeli officials have remained tight-lipped about the explosions that led the television news bulletins and dominated newspaper headlines.

Amos Harel of the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper said the pager and walkie-talkie blasts had put "Israel and Hezbollah on the brink of all-out war".

Over the last two days, Lebanon has been shaken by a series of explosions targeting Hezbollah militants, widely believed to be orchestrated by Israel. The sophisticated attacks, which detonated electronic devices such as pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members, have left over 30 people dead and hundreds injured.

The first wave of explosions on Tuesday hit areas in both Lebanon and Syria, killing at least 12 people, including children, and wounding thousands.A second round of detonations followed the next day, targeting Beirut and other parts of Lebanon. One of the blasts occurred during a funeral for victims of the earlier attack. Lebanon's health ministry reported that the second wave of explosions left at least 20 more dead and hundreds injured.

The death toll from a second wave of explosions of electronic devices in Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon on Wednesday rose to 20 with more than 450 people wounded, the country's health ministry said.

"The wave of enemy explosions that targeted walkie talkies... killed 20 people and wounded more than 450," the ministry said in a statement.

The White House has urged all parties involved in the conflict to avoid regional escalation following two days of explosions in Lebanon, which many have attributed to Israel.

"We still don’t want to see any kind of escalation. We don’t believe that further military operations are the solution to the current crisis," US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said

Kirby also clarified that the United States had no involvement in the explosions.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced on Wednesday that the focus of Israel's ongoing conflict with Hamas is shifting northward, where tensions with Lebanon's Hezbollah have escalated. "The centre of gravity is moving northward — resources are being allocated to this front," Gallant said during a visit to an Israeli airbase, according to an official release.

Gallant described this shift as marking the beginning of a new phase in the war, emphasizing that it will require "courage, determination, and perseverance" from Israel. The Israeli military has been engaged in daily clashes with Hezbollah as the northern front intensifies.

Israeli army chief on Wednesday said that the state has planned many strategic plans ahead by stages adding that the army have many capabilities yet to be activated full capabilities. His statement came shortly after a fresh wave of device explosions occurred throughout Lebanon, resulting in the deaths of nine people and leaving more than 300 injured.

Nine people were killed and over 300 injured when walkie-talkies exploded across Lebanon, according to the health ministry. This followed a deadly incident the previous day, when pagers used by Hezbollah detonated, killing 12 and wounding 2,800.

"The new wave of walkie-talkie explosions... killed nine people and wounded more than 300," the ministry said in a statement.

Lebanon's health ministry says over 100 wounded by exploding electronic devices in multiple regions of country, reports AP.

​A walkie-talkie is a portable two-way radio that allows users to communicate wirelessly over short distances. These devices operate on specific radio frequencies and are used in various sectors like emergency services, construction, and military operations.

They are known for their simplicity, allowing users to both transmit and receive messages using a single channel. Invented in the 1930s, walkie-talkies have become indispensable in situations where cell signals are unreliable, such as remote areas or work sites.

Lebanon's state-run media reported that exploding devices killed three people in the east on Wednesday, with a medical source indicating that 15 others were wounded. Similar blasts were reported in other Hezbollah strongholds. A security source told Reuters that hundreds were injured in the explosions across Lebanon on Wednesday.

"Three martyrs fell after devices exploded in the town of Sohmor," the state-run National News Agency said, with a hospital source in the city of Baalbek telling AFP 15 people had been wounded after walkie talkies exploded.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that civilian objects should not be weaponized, following a series of deadly explosions in Lebanon targeting pagers used by Hezbollah.

"I think it's very important that there is an effective control of civilian objects, not to weaponize civilian objects -- that should be a rule that... governments should, be able to implement," Guterres said at a briefing at UN headquarters, AFP reported.

A source close to Lebanon's Hezbollah group reported that walkie talkies used by its members exploded in its Beirut stronghold, while state media noted similar blasts of pagers and other "devices" in eastern and southern Lebanon.

“A number of walkie talkies exploded in Beirut's southern suburbs,” AFP sources reported, with Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers confirming that devices had detonated inside two cars in the area.

A day after a series of pager explosions rocked Lebanon, two additional blasts were heard in Beirut's southern suburbs on Wednesday. Reuters journalists in the area reported the contained explosions in separate parts of the city, though the cause remains unclear.

Communications devices used by Lebanon's armed group Hezbollah detonated late Wednesday afternoon across the country's south and in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, a security source and a witness told Reuters.

The source said it was not clear if the equipment was pagers. At least one of the blasts heard took place near a funeral organized by Hezbollah for those killed the previous day when thousands of pagers used by the group detonated across the country

A company headquartered in Hungary manufactured the pagers utilized by Hezbollah that detonated in what seems to be an Israeli strike, as stated by another organisation. The incident has brought to light some aspects of the perplexing operation. The assault has intensified the already tense situation between Israel and Hezbollah, which could potentially lead to a full-scale conflict.

The pagers carried by members of the militant group exploded almost concurrently on the previous day in Lebanon and Syria, resulting in the deaths of at least 12 individuals, including two minors, and injuring approximately 2,800 others. Both Hezbollah and the Lebanese government held Israel responsible for the attack.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Western backers of Israel should feel "shame" after paging devices belonging to Lebanon's Hezbollah exploded, in a deadly attack the Tehran-aligned group blamed on Israel.

"Western countries and the Americans... fully support the crimes, killings and indiscriminate assassinations of the Zionist regime", Pezeshkian said in a statement, referring to Israel, adding that the explosions should bring them "shame". (AFP)

The European Union's foreign policy chief condemned explosions of pagers carried by Lebanese militants Hezbollah that the group blamed on Israel.

"I consider this situation extremely worrying. I can only condemn these attacks that endanger the security and stability of Lebanon, and increase the risk of escalation in the region," Josep Borrell said in a statement.