From pager explosions to Israeli airstrikes, how Lebanon found itself ‘on the brink of all-out war’ in one week

The international community fears that the escalation between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah will drag the Middle East into an uncontrollable spiral of violence.

These are the most intense Israeli strikes in a year. The Hebrew state continues to target Hezbollah in Lebanon, Tuesday, September 24, after bombings that left more than 500 dead the day before. Attacks that raise fears of a conflagration in the region, almost a year after the attack of October 7, 2023 perpetrated by Hamas. “We are on the brink of total war”warned the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, from New York, where the UN General Assembly is being held. We summarize how, in one week, tensions have been exacerbated in the Middle East.

Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies explode

It all began with a major and unprecedented attack on Tuesday, September 17. At 3:30 p.m., almost simultaneously, pagers carried by members of Hezbollah exploded throughout Lebanon. The targets include areas where the Iranian-backed Lebanese Islamist movement is based, including the southern suburbs of Beirut, the south of the country and the eastern Bekaa plain. Wednesday, September 18, These are walkie-talkies that explode, and this then the funerals of four Hezbollah members killed the day before are taking place. In total, the toll of the attacks of September 17 and 18 is very heavy, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health: at least 37 dead, including two children and civilians, and around 3,000 injured..

Although there were collateral casualties, the targets of the explosions were mostly Hezbollah men who were carrying pagers or walkie-talkies. Military leaders were particularly targeted. In response to these attacks, the leader of Hezbollah spoke on Thursday, September 19. Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged that “a severe and unprecedented blow in the history of Lebanon”. He also promised Israel “a terrible punishment”. Interviewed on franceinfo, General Jérôme Pellistrandi, editor-in-chief of the magazine National Defensehowever, emits “doubts” on Hezbollah’s ability to launch ground operations.

In fact, at the time Hassan Nasrallah was delivering his speech, the Israeli air force was breaking the sound barrier over Beirut, the Lebanese capital. Because Israel has continued to show its determination to target Hezbollah. And Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant assured, following Hassan Nasrallah’s statement, that Israeli military operations against the Islamist movement would “continue”.

Israeli strike kills movement leader

This was demonstrated the very next day, Friday. September 20. A new blow is dealt to Hezbollah: A building in the southern suburbs of Beirut, known to be a stronghold of the movement, is bombed. A basement meeting of the Radwan unit, Hezbollah’s elite force, is targeted. According to an official Lebanese report, these strikes leave 31 dead, including three children and sixteen members of Hezbollah. Among the latter are the head of the Radwan unit, Ibrahim Aqil, number three of the Shiite movement, and Ahmed Mahmoud Wahbi, another senior commander of the elite unit.

Hezbollah responds with rocket fire

In southern Lebanon, and particularly on the border, gunfire has intensified over the past week, following the explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies. But these exchanges between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, supported by Iran, Israel’s number one enemy, are not new. They began after October 7, 2023, when Hamas carried out its deadly attacks on Israeli soil, leading to war in the Gaza Strip. In response, Hezbollah vowed to attack Israel “until the end of the aggression in Gaza”. On the night of Saturday 21 to Sunday 22 September, the Lebanese movement thus fired “about 150 rockets, cruise missiles and drones” towards the north of Israel, “without causing significant damage”according to the Israeli army.

Benjamin Netanyahu justifies these actions

On Sunday, the Israeli Prime Minister finally spoke out in a statement. “In recent days, we have inflicted on Hezbollah a series of blows that it could never have imagined. If Hezbollah has not understood the message, I promise you, it will understand.”said Benjamin Netanyahu. “No country can tolerate shooting at its people, at its cities, and we, the State of Israel, will not tolerate it either.”

The Prime Minister further claims that he is reversing the “balance of power” in northern Israel, where he is determined to allow the return of tens of thousands of displaced residents. Despite warnings from his allies calling for avoiding any escalation in the Middle East and pressure from a section of Israeli public opinion, Benjamin Netanyahu does not seem to intend to change his position: he has an interest in the conflict lasting.

Israel massively bombs Hezbollah strongholds

On Monday, September 23, Israeli bombings targeted “about 1 600 terrorist targets” in Hezbollah strongholds, according to the Israeli army, which reported a “large number” members of the Islamist movement killed. “It’s a catastrophe, a massacre”Jamal Badrane, a doctor at the Secours Populaire hospital in Nabatiyé, a town in the south of the country, told AFP. “The strikes don’t stop, they bombed us while we were removing the wounded”he said. The toll is extremely heavy: these strikes left 558 dead, including 50 children and 94 women, according to the Lebanese Minister of Health.

For its part, the Israeli army announced that it had hit “about 800 targets” Hezbollah in Lebanon. On Monday, late afternoon, Benjamin Netanyahu spoke again, this time in English and on camera. “Hezbollah has used you as human shields. It has placed rockets in your living rooms and missiles in your garages. Do not let Hezbollah endanger your lives and those of your loved ones.”he said in a video, addressing the Lebanese directly. As with Hamas, the Israeli prime minister believes that the Islamist movement hides its projectiles among civilians.

In one day, the Israeli army “neutralized tens of thousands of rockets and munitions“, said the Israeli Defense Minister on Monday evening. Yoav Gallant thus welcomed the fact that Hezbollah had lived its “most difficult week since its creation” in 1982. Israeli strikes continued unabated on Tuesday. “In the past hours, the army struck Hezbollah terrorist targets in southern Lebanon, including rocket launchers, terrorist infrastructure sites and buildings where weapons were stored.”according to the Israeli army.