More communications devices used by Hezbollah terrorists exploded on Wednesday afternoon across the group’s main stronghold in Beirut and in Southern Lebanon, Reuters reported, citing a security source.
According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, at least 20 Hezbollah operatives were killed in the latest series of device explosions. In addition, some 450 terrorists were said to have sustained wounds.
At least one of the blasts took place in the vicinity of a funeral for terrorists killed on Tuesday, when thousands of Hezbollah pagers detonated all over the country, according to eyewitness reports.
The Hezbollah devices that exploded late Wednesday afternoon are hand-held walkie-talkies, a Lebanese security source told Reuters.
Axios cited sources familiar with the matter as saying that the radios, which were booby-trapped in advance by Israeli intelligence, were part of the terror group’s emergency communications systems that were supposed to be used during a conflict with the Israel Defense Forces.
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On Tuesday, more than 2,700 Hezbollah operatives were wounded and at least 12 were killed across Lebanon when their pagers exploded, with the terrorist organization saying it held Israel “fully responsible.”
Speaking at a Wednesday funeral for several of the terrorists killed the day prior, Hezbollah executive council head Hashem Safieddine vowed a “bloodily unique revenge” against the Jewish state, local reports said.
“Tomorrow, the leader of Hezbollah will speak, and all will be revealed,” Safieddine said. “We will be in a new situation and a new confrontation with this enemy.”
The Israel Defense Forces declined to comment on Tuesday’s incident, which came just hours after the Israeli Cabinet added the return of citizens displaced from their homes in the north to the country’s war goals, bringing a potential major clash with Hezbollah closer to reality.
Iran-backed Hezbollah has attacked Israel nearly daily since Oct. 8, firing thousands of rockets, missiles and drones. The attacks have so far killed more than 40 people and caused widespread damage. Tens of thousands of civilians remain internally displaced due to the violence.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein this week that displaced Israelis will not be able to return home without strong military or diplomatic action against Hezbollah.
Netanyahu “made it very clear that it will not be possible to return our residents without a fundamental change in the security situation in the north,” Netanyahu’s office stated after a Monday meeting in Tel Aviv.
Jerusalem will “ultimately do what is necessary to safeguard its security and return the residents of the north securely to their homes,” he vowed.
