Hezbollah leader says Israel's pager, walkie-talkie attacks are a 'declaration of war', crossed all 'red lines'

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in a widely-anticipated speech, on Thurday (September 19), addressed the recent pager and walkie-talkie attacks that took place in Lebanon.

He called the attacks– widely believed to have been carried out by Israel– “a terrorist act” and said that it was a declaration of war against the people of Lebanon and the country’s sovereignty, according to Al Jazeera.

Holding Israel accountable for the attacks, Nasrallah said that the Benjamin Netanyahu-led country has “crossed all red lines” in carrying out the pager attacks and walkie-talkie blasts. He stressed that it was Israel’s willful intent to “kill no fewer than 5,000 people” within moments.

In his first televised address since the blasts rocked Lebanon, the Hezbollah chief warned Israel that it would face ’tough retribution and just punishment’ for device blasts.

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Despite this, Nasrallah said that Hezbollah wouldn’t jump to conclusions and announced that there would be an internal investigation into the device blasts.

‘We cannot be broken’

Although Nasrallah acknowledged that the Iran-backed group has suffered a “major and unprecedented blow” in the targeted attacks, he went on to say that there are ebbs and flows in a war, and that Hezbollah will brave this challenging moment with its head held high.

“We cannot be broken by this blow, no matter how big or strong it is. And I can assure you faithfully and with confidence, this hard, unprecedented blow did not bring us to our knees – and it will not,” he added.

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“These are lessons to learn,” Nasrallah stated, promising that Hezbollah will become more robust.

Hezbollah to keep fighting Israel

The group’s leader also said that Hezbollah will not stop fighting Israel until the Gaza war is over. “The Lebanese resistance will not stop until the aggression on Gaza stops” despite “all this blood spilt,” he said.

While he spoke, Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier over Lebanon’s capital city and Hezbollah stronghold, Beirut, according to the country’s state-run National News Agency.

With inputs from agencies