Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said he approved the pager attack on the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in September, which killed nearly 40 people and injured nearly 3,000.
The Israeli PM’s spokesperson Omer Dostri told AFP,”Netanyahu confirmed Sunday that he greenlighted the pager operation in Lebanon.”
The remotely triggered explosions that hit pagers and walkie-talkies carried by Hezbollah members in September were widely blamed on Israel, which till now did not confirm or deny involvement.
Lebanese labour minister Moustafa Bayram and other officials told AP he travelled to Geneva and formally filed the complaint Tuesday against Israel at the International Labor Organization, a sprawling U.N. agency that brings together governments, businesses, and workers.
“This method of warfare and conflicts may open the way for many who are evading international humanitarian law to adopt this method of warfare,” the minister said.
“It’s a very dangerous precedent, if not condemned,” he said. “We are in a situation where ordinary objects — objects used in daily life — become dangerous and lethal.”Analysts told AFP that explosives had likely been planted in the pagers before they were delivered to Hezbollah. The preliminary findings of a Lebanese investigation found the pagers had been booby-trapped, a security official said.
The New York Times reported that the pagers that exploded were produced by the Hungary-based BAC Consulting on behalf of Taiwanese manufacturer Gold Apollo. It cited intelligence officers as saying BAC was part of an Israeli front.
Hezbollah began low intensity strikes on Israel in support of Hamas following its ally’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which triggered the Gaza war.
Strikes have intensified since war broke out in Lebanon in late September, when Israel escalated its air campaign against Hezbollah and later sent ground troops into south Lebanon.
