Israel behind pager explosions, sources say, as Hezbollah vows ‘reckoning’
(LONDON) — Israel was behind the deadly explosion of pagers across Lebanon on Tuesday, sources told ABC News on Wednesday.
At least nine civilians were killed and more than 2,750 people injured in the explosions, according to Lebanese authorities. Around 200 of the injuries were critical and required surgery, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said.
The Hezbollah militant group said it is conducting a “security and scientific investigation” into the explosion of pagers across Lebanon on Tuesday.
Hezbollah said 11 of its members were killed on Tuesday, though — as is typical in its statements — did not specify how they died.
“We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression, which also targeted civilians and led to the deaths of a number of martyrs and the injury of a large number with various wounds,” Hezbollah said of the pager explosions in a Tuesday statement.
In a Wednesday morning statement, Hezbollah said it would continue operations to “support Gaza,” and vowed a “reckoning” for Israel for the “massacre on Tuesday.”
The dead and injured included people who are not members of Hezbollah, such as a 10-year-old girl killed in the eastern village of Saraain, according to Hezbollah-owned Al-Ahed News.
Israel has not commented on its alleged involvement in the apparent attack, which prompted chaos in the capital Beirut and elsewhere in Hezbollah’s south Lebanon heartland.
Around 100 hospitals received wounded people, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said, with hospitals in Beirut and its southern suburb quickly filling to capacity. Patients were then directed to other hospitals outside the region.
Most of the injuries were to the face, hand or abdomen, officials said.
The Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was among those who had one of the pagers and was injured in an explosion Tuesday, according to Iranian state TV. The diplomat said in a phone call that he was “feeling well and fully conscious,” according to Iranian state TV.
At least 14 people were also injured in targeted attacks on Hezbollah members in Syria, according to the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The alleged Israeli operation has again piqued fears of escalation in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict ongoing since Oct. 8, when members of the Iranian-backed group began cross-border attacks in support of Hamas’ war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.
Frontier skirmishes, Israeli strikes and Hezbollah rocket and artillery salvoes have been near-constant through 11 months of war in Gaza. Israeli officials have repeatedly threatened to launch a new military operation against Hezbollah along the Israel-Lebanon border. Tens of thousands of Israelis have left their homes in border regions due to the fighting.
The Israel Defense Forces said warplanes hit Hezbollah targets in six locations in southern Lebanon overnight into Wednesday. Artillery strikes were also conducted, it added.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is due to make a public address on Thursday afternoon to address the situation. In February, Nasrallah urged members to stop using their cellphones, describing the technology as “a deadly agent.”
Schools across Lebanon will be closed on Wednesday, Lebanese state media reported, citing the country’s Minister of Education. Schools and offices closed include public and private schools, high schools, technical institutes, the Lebanese University and private higher education institutions, Lebanese state media reported.
The Lebanese Council of Ministers collectively condemned “this criminal Israeli aggression, which constitutes a serious violation of Lebanese sovereignty and a crime by all standards.”
It added that “the government immediately began making all necessary contacts with the countries concerned and the United Nations to place it before its responsibilities regarding this continuing crime.”
The United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon condemned the attack on Lebanon, calling it an “extremely concerning escalation in what is an already unacceptably volatile context,” in a statement released by the U.N. Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary General.
U.S. officials said Washington, D.C. had no role in — or pre-knowledge of — the apparent attack. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the administration was “gathering information” on the incident.
Both Miller and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to speculate on whether Israel was responsible.
The U.S. and the European Union have both designated the Hezbollah militant group a foreign terrorist organization.
(LONDON) — Russian missiles and drones again crisscrossed Ukrainian skies on Monday night in strikes that killed more than 50 people and injured hundreds, Ukrainian officials said.
Most of the casualties were reported at an attack in Poltava, according to officials. Two ballistic missiles struck the Poltava Military Communications Institute as well as a nearby hospital, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
At least 51 people were killed and more than 200 injured in the attack in Poltava, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
“I have ordered a full and prompt investigation into all the circumstances of what happened,” Zelenskyy said on his official Telegram channel on Tuesday morning.
First lady Olena Zelenska described the attack as a “stunning tragedy for all of Ukraine.”
One of the buildings of the military academy was partially destroyed in the strike, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said.
“The time interval between the alarm and the arrival of the deadly rockets was so short that it caught people at the moment of evacuation to the bomb shelter,” the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in a post on Telegram.
Many were trapped under the rubble, and rescue workers are continuing to search for people, the ministry said.
Valeriy Parkhomenko, the deputy mayor of Poltava, told ABC News there are believed to be survivors under the rubble.
He said classes had been taking place in the military academy at the time of the strikes. There had been virtually no time for people to reach shelters, with the missiles hitting roughly two minutes after they were launched, he said.
A three-day mourning period has been declared in the city.
In total, Ukraine’s air force said on Telegram that Russia fired three Iskander ballistic missiles from occupied Crimea, one Kh-59/69 air-launched missile from Russia’s western Kursk region and 35 Iranian-made Shahed attack drones from two areas in Kursk and Crimea.
Ukrainian air defenses downed 27 drones, the air force said, with six more “lost.”
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said two people — a 38-year-old woman and her 8-year-old son — were killed in a strike on a hotel complex in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia.
Two other members of the family — the father and a 13-year-old girl — were buried under rubble but later rescued. Both are hospitalized in “serious condition,” the ministry said.
Further north, in the city of Dnipro, one person was killed and at least six injured by a Russian missile attack, the Interior Ministry wrote on Telegram.
Ukraine’s air defense units were active overnight in Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Poltava and the Chernihiv and Sumy regions, the air force said.
Russia’s intensifying long-range attacks on Ukrainian military, infrastructure and civilian targets have prompted Kyiv to push its Western partners — chief among them the U.S. — for permission to use Western weapons against airfields and launch sites within Russian borders.
Ukraine has scored notable successes within Russia with its own domestically produced drones and missiles, but Zelenskyy has repeatedly said Kyiv needs more advanced capabilities.
“The terrorist state must feel what war is,” the president said on Sunday. “To force Russia into peace, to move them from deceitful rhetoric about negotiations to taking steps to end the war, to clear our land of occupation and occupiers, we need effective tools.”
Following a deadly Russian-guided bomb strike on the city of Kharkiv last week, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address that such attacks can only be stopped “by striking Russian military airfields, their bases, and the logistics of Russian terror.”
“We talk about this every day with our partners,” he said. “We persuade. We present arguments.”
Curtailing Russia’s ability to strike from the air, Zelenskyy added, would be “a strong step to force Russia to seek an end to the war and a just peace.”
(NEW YORK) — As the Israel-Hamas war continues, efforts to secure the release of hostages taken by the terrorist organization are ongoing, and Israeli forces have launched an assault in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
Here’s how the news is developing:
IDF says it targeted senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut
The Israel Defense Forces said it targeted a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut, Lebanon. The IDF said the commander is responsible for Saturday’s strike that killed children playing soccer in Majdal Shams in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on social media that Hezbollah “crossed the red line.”
The Lebanese Red Cross said the strike hit a residential building, killing at least two and injuring 20.
The target of Israel’s strike was Fouad Shukr, also known as Al-Hajj Mohsen, according to three security sources familiar with the operation.
The United States was given advanced notice ahead of Israel’s strike, according to a U.S. official familiar with matter. The message was communicated via security channels and limited operational detail was shared, the official said. It’s not clear whether the strike successfully eliminated its target.
Vice President Kamala Harris said Tuesday that “Israel has the right to defend itself against a terrorist organization, which is exactly what Hezbollah is.”
“But all of that being said, we still must work on a diplomatic solution to end these attacks and we will continue to do that work,” she added.
State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters he didn’t have “any updates on any specific activity,” but added, “We have been in continuous discussions with Israeli and Lebanese counterparts since the incident over the weekend, and the United States is going to continue to support efforts to reach a diplomatic solution along the blue line.”
“Our support for Israel’s security is ironclad, and it’s unwavering, especially as it defends itself against Iran-backed threats, including threats from Hezbollah,” Patel said.
-ABC News’ Dana Savir and Shannon Kingston
85 sick and injured evacuated from Gaza in largest medical evacuation in 9 months
Eighty-five sick and severely injured people, including 35 children, have been evacuated from Gaza to get care in Abu Dhabi, said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization.
This was Gaza’s largest medical evacuation since October 2023, according to the WHO.
The evacuees’ illnesses include cancer, neurological conditions, cardiac disease and liver disease, Tedros said.
Sixty-three family members and caregivers accompanied the patients, the WHO said.
“We hope this paves the way for the establishment of evacuation corridors via all possible routes. Thousands of sick people are suffering needlessly,” Tedros said. “Above all, and as always, we call for a cease-fire.”
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
IDF says it targeted senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut
The Israel Defense Forces said it targeted a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut, Lebanon. The IDF said the commander is responsible for Saturday’s strike that killed children playing soccer in Majdal Shams in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on social media that Hezbollah “crossed the red line.”
The target of Israel’s strike was Fouad Shukr, also known as Al-Hajj Mohsen, according to three security sources familiar with the operation.
The United States was given advanced notice ahead of Israel’s strike, according to a U.S. official familiar with matter. The message was communicated via security channels and limited operational detail was shared, the official said.
State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters he didn’t have “any updates on any specific activity,” but added, “We have been in continuous discussions with Israeli and Lebanese counterparts since the incident over the weekend, and the United States is going to continue to support efforts to reach a diplomatic solution along the blue line.”
“Our support for Israel’s security is ironclad, and it’s unwavering, especially as it defends itself against Iran-backed threats, including threats from Hezbollah,” Patel said.
-ABC News’ Dana Savir and Shannon Kingston
IDF withdraws from Khan Younis after weeklong raid killing 226
The Israel Defense Forces announced that it has “completed operational activity in the area of Khan Younis” in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday morning, more than a week after it began bombarding the eastern part of the city — a designated humanitarian zone.
At least 226 people have been killed by Israeli forces in and around Khan Younis since the IDF raid began early on July 22, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
-ABC News’ Diaa Ostaz, Jordana Miller and Samy Zyara
One dead in Israel, one dead in Lebanon amid rising tensions
At least one person is dead in northern Israel following a rocket salvo from Lebanon this afternoon, according to Israel’s national emergency service. One person was also killed in southern Lebanon following a drone strike targeting a house in the town of Beit Lif early Tuesday, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.
The Israel Defense Forces said its fighter jets conducted strikes in southern Lebanon earlier Tuesday.
Approximately 10 projectiles crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory, with the majority of the projectiles being intercepted, according to the IDF. A direct hit was identified in the area of HaGoshrim in northern Israel.
12:34 PM EDT US meetings with Netanyahu were ‘very constructive,’ Kirby says
U.S. officials’ meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in Washington, D.C., last week were “very constructive and certainly nothing that discouraged us in terms of trying to close the remaining gaps” while trying to secure the hostage deal, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday.
“We still believe those gaps can be narrowed … and we can move forward. But obviously, as I said earlier, it’s going to take compromise, it’s going to take leadership,” he said.
“There’s no indication that we see, at this point in time, the weekend strike by Hezbollah into the Golan [Heights] area is going to negatively affect those discussions,” Kirby added.
Kirby also pushed back on the suggestion that Vice President Kamala Harris had a different message for Netanyahu from President Joe Biden, saying there was “no daylight” between their messages, and that reporting suggesting otherwise was “unfortunate and inaccurate.”
“There was no daylight between anything, the president, the vice president told the prime minister. Same points, same emphasis — the commitment and reaffirmation to help Israel continue to defend itself against these threats. Same reaffirmation by both the president and the vice president, that we want to see the cease-fire deal get enacted because of what it can do to improve the humanitarian situation. And of course, getting those hostages home with their families,” Kirby said.
Pressed on why Harris had her own meeting if their message was the same, Kirby defended Harris.
“The vice president couldn’t be in town for the meeting in the Oval [Office], and as she has been a full partner in all our foreign policy, but certainly in particular, the policy that this administration has pursued with respect to the Middle East, she felt it was important to also sit down with Prime Minister Netanyahu,” Kirby said.
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle
12:21 PM EDT White House condemns ‘horrific’ attack on Golan Heights
The United States “absolutely condemn this weekend’s horrific attack” that killed children playing soccer in Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday.
At least 12 people were killed, according to the Israel Defense Forces. Hezbollah has denied involvement in the rocket attack but Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that “every indication” points to Hezbollah as responsible for the strike.
Kirby also assigned blame to Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying “it was their rocket launched from an area that they control.”
“The United States will continue to support efforts to reach a diplomatic solution along that blue line that will, No. 1, end these terrible attacks once and for all, and No. 2, allow Israeli and Lebanese citizens on both sides of the border to safely return to their homes,” Kirby said.
Kirby stressed that U.S. support for Israeli security remains “ironclad” against all Iran-backed threats, adding, “We believe that there is still time and space for a diplomatic solution.”
Asked if the administration was urging Israel to show restraint in any response, Kirby said that Hezbollah made the first strike on Israel back in October and that “Israel has every right to respond,” but he said he was confident that a broader conflict could be avoided.
“Nobody wants a broader war and I’m confident that we’ll be able to avoid such an outcome. I’ll let the Israelis really speak to whatever their response is going to be,” Kirby said.
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle
4:43 PM EDT Netanyahu and Gallant to decide how to retaliate for Golan Heights attack
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant were granted the authority Sunday to decide the manner and timing of a response to the alleged attack by Hezbollah on the town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, according to the prime minister’s office.
During a meeting in Tel Aviv, members of Israel’s political-security cabinet gave Netanyahu and Gallant the authority to devise a plan to retaliate for the strike that killed 12 people, including children playing soccer, according to the statement from the prime minister’s office.
“The members of the cabinet authorized the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense to decide on the manner of response against the terrorist organization Hezbollah, and when,” according to the statement.
Hezbollah has denied involvement in the rocket attack. The Israel Defense Forces and the White House both blamed Hezbollah for the attack.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
1:41 PM EDT White House blames Hezbollah for deadly rocket attack on Golan Heights
The White House on Sunday blamed Hezbollah for the rocket strike Saturday on Golan Heights that it said killed children playing soccer.
At least 12 people were killed in the weekend attack in Majdal Shams, a town in the Golan Heights, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
“We have been in continuous discussions with Israeli and Lebanese counterparts since the horrific attack yesterday in northern Israel that killed a number of children playing soccer,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement. “This attack was conducted by Lebanese Hezbollah. It was their rocket, and launched from an area they control. It should be universally condemned.”
Hezbollah has denied involvement in the rocket attack in Majdal Shams. But the IDF said a Hezbollah rocket was used in the attack, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier Sunday that “every indication” points to Hezbollah as responsible for the strike.
-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow
July 28, 2024, 12:35 PM EDT Middle East Airlines delays flights following Israeli strike on Lebanon
Lebanon’s flagship air carrier, Middle East Airlines, delayed departures of several inbound flights to Beirut on Sunday, the airline announced.
The decision by Middle East Airlines came after the Israel Defense Forces announced on Sunday that the military struck targets “deep inside” Lebonnon overnight. The IDF attack in Lebanon unfolded a day after a rocket strike killed 12 people in Majdal Shams, a town in Golan Heights.
Hezbollah denied involvement in the rocket attack in Majdal Shams, but IDF officials claim it was a Hezbollah rocket that hit a sports field, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that “every indication” points to Hezbollah as being responsible for the strike.
Middle East Airlines said it delayed the departures of six inbound flights to Beruit that would normally land at night. The flights are now scheduled to land during the day on Monday, the airline said.
Meanwhile, Royal Jordanian Airlines also told ABC News it is considering rescheduling a flight from Amman to Beirut to early Monday morning.
(NEW YORK) — UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis sat down with ABC News’ Linsey Davis to talk about the dangers to global stability, from conflicts to climate change.
Since 1945, the United Nations has addressed issues that transcend borders, with the world’s problems being debated at the General Assembly Building in New York.
Francis, a diplomat from the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, has served as his country’s permanent representative to the United Nations since 2021. He was elected to serve as the UN General Assembly’s 78th president in 2023.
ABC News talked to Francis at the General Assembly Building’s iconic hall about Israel and Palestine, Ukraine and Russia, climate change, South Sudan and his message to the next president of the United States.
ABC NEWS: Every president probably has had their own tumult.
FRANCIS: Yes.
ABC NEWS: But it just feels like on your watch, it’s especially busy. But do you feel that?
FRANCIS: Yes, I do. Folks who have been here for quite some time say they’ve never really seen it quite like this before. So many challenges emerging at the same time; peace and stability is under increased duress. I think there are 55 conflict situations in the world. 55.
ABC NEWS: The UN Security Council approved a ceasefire plan that was backed by the United States. And in the meantime, we’ve seen no change from Hamas or Israel. Does the Security Council have sufficient power?
FRANCIS: The question is power over whom? As critical as Hamas is as a player in the Middle East crisis, Hamas is not a state. The General Assembly, for example, had called long ago, in October of 2023, for a complete ceasefire in Gaza. We cannot police the world. The UN doesn’t have a police force. The UN speaks and tries to change behavior through its positions and principles, its values.
I would like to see, and I think the only one that is really credible, a two-state solution. Where Israel and the Palestinians live side by side in peace and security.
We’ve had wars in the Middle East, between the two sides, repeatedly. Are we going to continue this cycle of death, degradation, pain, suffering indefinitely?
ABC NEWS: UN-backed groups believe that maybe as many as 500,000 Palestinians are on the verge of famine. Do you think enough is being done to provide relief and aid to the Palestinians?
FRANCIS: We, as the UN, have a concern that more can and ought to be done. We’ve watched the people of Palestine suffer in the most heartrending way. And the hope is that those who have the capacity and the power to make a difference, in terms of the delivery of aid and support to those people, will step up and do the honorable thing, consistent with the requirements of international human rights and humanitarian law.
ABC NEWS: You mentioned that there are currently 55 conflicts going on globally.
FRANCIS: Yes.
ABC NEWS: Of course, top of mind: the war in Ukraine, which is now in excess of two years. What do you see as the likely outcome there and the responsibility of the UN?
FRANCIS: What really needs to happen is that the Russian forces need to pull back and remove themselves from the territory of Ukraine. That is the only credible outcome insofar as we at the United Nations are concerned.
ABC NEWS: Do you feel that Russia should have a permanent spot on the UN Security Council with veto power?
FRANCIS: That’s not a decision for me. That’s a decision for the membership of the United Nations.
ABC NEWS: But if it were up to you?
FRANCIS: It isn’t up to me because the president does not have those powers
ABC NEWS: I know you recently returned from Namibia. Namibia and Africa, in general, both extremely vulnerable to climate change.
FRANCIS: Yes.
ABC NEWS: And I’m wondering if you are concerned, with regard to the UN secretary general has described this as a highway to hell, that this is a moment of truth.
FRANCIS: I normally wear a pin, and for some reason today I forgot it. It’s a 1.5 degree pin. That’s the temperature at which we need to keep the increase in global temperature above pre-industrial levels. That is important, because for a number of countries in the global south, particularly small island developing states, low lying coastal areas, anything above that would be utterly cataclysmic.
ABC NEWS: Let’s talk about South Sudan. There are reports that 25 million people are in need of aid, famine is looming, 8 million people have been displaced from their homes. Do you feel that the world is paying enough attention to the atrocities going on there?
FRANCIS: No.
ABC NEWS: And why do you think that is?
FRANCIS: Insufficient attention has been paid to the conflicts in Africa and, in particular, what’s going on in South Sudan. It is in a very desperate situation. And I would urge, I would urge the international development community to pay greater attention and to be more forthcoming in the context of humanitarian aid. Not just for South Sudan, but there are other places as well, for Somalia, Mali, other places, because human suffering is going on at an alarming rate. And those of us who have the capacity to do something about it need to act.
ABC NEWS: How do you feel that the outcome of America’s presidential election in November will impact the UN?
FRANCIS: The UN does not have a political preference for governments. So whomsoever occupies the Oval Office come November, I’m sure the UN will be in a position to interact with, discuss policy with, and come to decisions that are in the best interests of the world in general.
ABC NEWS: Do you have a message for the future president of the United States?
FRANCIS: Let’s join together and take some bold decisions, bold decisions to begin in earnest to repair some of the problems that are daunting us in the international society – climate change, sea level rise, antimicrobial resistance, artificial intelligence. Ensuring that we harvest the best benefits that can advance science and advance human society without necessarily importing the risks and threats that could unravel the social fabric of society.