From the Liveblog of
Sunday, November 10, 2024
Israel carried out pager attacks on Hezbollah, Netanyahu said to acknowledge for first time
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged in today’s cabinet meeting that Israel was behind the pager and walkie-talkie attacks on Hezbollah in September, according to Hebrew media reports.
“The pager operation and the elimination of [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah were carried out despite the opposition of senior officials in the defense establishment and those responsible for them in the political echelon,” Netanyahu reportedly said, in a not-very-oblique dig at IDF and intelligence chiefs and his recently fired defense minister Yoav Gallant.
Israel has not publicly taken responsibility for the attack, in which thousands of pagers detonated on their Hezbollah owners across Lebanon and parts of Syria on September 16.
