Fears are growing of all-out conflict between Israel and Lebanon, as Israel’s defence minister said his country was “opening a new phase in the war” and more troops were sent to the border. Yoav Gallant said the "centre of gravity is shifting to the north”.
His warning came hours after a new wave of explosions killed 14 people and injured at least 450 across Lebanon when walkie-talkies exploded, according to the country’s health ministry. That came a day after exploding pagers killed 12 people in Lebanon including two children and left almost 3,000 people in hospital.
Multiple sources said that Mossad, the Israeli spy agency, was targeting Hezbollah fighters and had managed to place explosives in the electronic devices. Israel has declined to comment on those claims and the United States declared that it had no prior knowledge of the attacks.
The defence minister’s announcement suggests that Israel is shifting its focus towards its conflict with Hezbollah – the Iran-backed group based in Lebanon. Around 60,000 people have been displaced in the north of Israel due to rocket and drone attacks by Hezbollah since the October 7th attacks in Israel and the war in Gaza. Thousands of people in Lebanon have been killed and injured by Israeli attacks.
Sophie Raworth presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Orla Guerin, Gordon Corera and Jeremy Bowen.
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