- Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah calls the pager and walkie-talkie attacks “a terrorist act” and a declaration of war against the people of Lebanon and the country’s sovereignty.
- Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad says the death toll from the two waves of attacks across the country has risen to 37 while 287 people are in a critical condition.
- Lebanon’s director general of civil aviation has issued a directive banning passengers from carrying pagers and walkie-talkies on board any aircraft after the devices exploded in coordinated attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday, state media say.
- Lebanon’s foreign minister warns the “blatant assault on Lebanon’s sovereignty and security” is a dangerous development that could “signal a wider war”.
After Nasrallah’s speech, we don’t know what’s really going to happen because in his speech, at least from what I heard, there was nothing revealing.
But at the same time, there was something that felt ambiguous – when he spoke about the methods that are different, when he spoke about keeping the accountability or the retaliation within a very small circle.
I think he spoke about the investigation within the organization, within Hezbollah – that inside the party they are also looking in different ways to how they are discussing their plans for the future.
When he’s saying that “whenever I am going to retaliate, I’ll keep this plan within the narrowest circle”, this is very important.
With respect to the Israeli attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday, the pager and walkie-talkie attacks, he was clear at saying this was a strike, this was a very big blow for Hezbollah, and he used the word, darba, which is like a strike for Hezbollah.