Israel Bombards Hezbollah as Group’s Leader Vows Retaliation

The Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, did not say how his group would respond to attacks on hand-held devices, which killed dozens when pagers and walkie-talkies exploded.

The Israeli military carried out dozens of airstrikes against the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on Thursday, one of the most intense waves of bombardment this year. The strikes came hours after Hezbollah’s leader vowed that “retribution will come” to Israel after audacious attacks on Hezbollah’s pagers and walkie-talkies.

The device explosions killed at least 37 people and left many Israelis and Lebanese fearful of a worsening conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

In his first speech since the devices blew up on Tuesday and Wednesday, Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, conceded that his group had “endured a severe and cruel blow.” He accused Israel of breaking “all conventions and laws” and said that it would “face just retribution and a bitter reckoning.”

But he did not describe how Hezbollah, which Iran backs, might retaliate, saying, “I will not discuss time, nor manner, nor place.”

Israel has not confirmed or denied responsibility for the device explosions, although current and former defense and intelligence officials who were briefed on the attacks say Israel was behind them.

In recent days, Israeli officials have signaled that their focus has been shifting from the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to the fight against Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Israeli military has increasingly devoted resources and personnel to that conflict, which has taken place mostly along its northern border. Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said Israel was embarking on “the new phase of the war.”

The Israeli military said in a statement that Thursday’s airstrikes targeted approximately 100 rocket launchers belonging to Hezbollah, along with other sites. Three senior Lebanese security officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the news media, said Israel carried out more than 70 airstrikes on Thursday.

The Israeli bombardment was a marked uptick from the daily tit-for-tat attacks that have characterized the cross-border fighting for the past 11 months. But it did not appear to be a major step toward full-blown war: There were no immediate reports of casualties, and the strikes seemed to have avoided major population centers and the Lebanese heartland.

Israeli fighter jets also ripped through the skies above Beirut during Mr. Nasrallah’s speech, flying at low altitude in a show of military might. Two deafening sonic booms from the jets shook buildings and sent residents running into the street.

Mr. Nasrallah said that the exploding devices would not deter Hezbollah from launching more rockets and drones at Israel in support of Hamas’s fight in Gaza. In a statement, Hezbollah said it had already executed 17 separate attacks on northern Israel on Thursday, targeting what it said were military bases and barracks. The Israeli military said two soldiers had been killed in combat in northern Israel but did not provide details.

Analysts said that the attacks that blew up Hezbollah’s pagers and walkie-talkies had humiliated the group, piercing its reputation as one of Israel’s most sophisticated foes and seeming to necessitate a forceful response. But retaliating fiercely could ignite a wider escalation with Israel at a time when many of the group’s fighters have been apparently incapacitated by the attacks.

Mr. Nasrallah’s speech, which he gave from an undisclosed location, appeared on televisions in apartment windows, cafes and shops across Lebanon as residents tensely watched to hear what he would say. Mr. Nasrallah said that Hezbollah had received messages suggesting that Israel had booby-trapped the devices to try to force his fighters to stop their military operations.

“We will call them the Tuesday and Wednesday massacres,” Mr. Nasrallah said of the blasts. “Genocide? A great aggression against Lebanon, its people, its resistance, its sovereignty and security? War crimes, or a declaration of war? You can call it anything, and deservedly so.”

The exploding pagers and walkie-talkies turned moments of everyday life in stores, on sidewalks and inside homes into scenes of panic and violence. Those killed by the blasts included at least two children, according to Lebanese officials, and nearly 3,000 others were injured. The breakdown between civilians and combatants, the dead and the wounded, remained largely unclear.

The explosions also “seriously disrupted” Lebanon’s already fragile health system as hospitals were swamped with patients, the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Thursday. Many of the patients had missing fingers and injured eyes, according to Lebanese health officials, and Dr. Tedros said that his organization had distributed blood and trauma kits to aid in the response.

The attacks made many Lebanese citizens fear that other devices could explode. Some hurried to disconnect appliances. Others unplugged the inverters and solar systems powering their homes. Many kept cellphones away from their bodies and refused to answer calls. Baby monitors, televisions, laptops — residents viewed them all with suspicion. On Thursday, Lebanon’s aviation authority banned pagers and walkie-talkies from all flights leaving Beirut.

Mr. Gallant, the Israeli defense minister, said on Thursday that Hezbollah would “pay an increasing price” going forward. He reiterated that Israel’s war with the group had entered “a new phase” that carried “opportunities as well as significant risks.”

After Hamas led the surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, starting the war in Gaza, Israel rushed soldiers to its northern border with Lebanon, fearing a similar invasion by Hezbollah. The next day, Hezbollah began firing missiles and drones at Israel, prompting Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire.

Nearly a year later, the conflict remains at a deadly stalemate. Both sides regularly conduct cross-border attacks, and more than 160,000 Israelis and Lebanese have fled border communities that have turned into free-fire zones. Israeli leaders have felt increasing pressure from the roughly 60,000 displaced Israelis to take more aggressive military action to push Hezbollah forces away from the border.

World leaders have expressed concern that Israel’s conflicts with Hamas and Hezbollah could lead to a broader regional war with Iran, which supports both, as it does the Houthis in Yemen and groups in Iraq. On Thursday evening, Britain’s foreign secretary, David Lammy, repeated a warning to British citizens to leave Lebanon, saying on social media, “Tensions are high and the situation could deteriorate rapidly.”

In an effort to stem the violence, President Emmanuel Macron of France spoke by phone with Lebanese political and military leaders and with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. In a video address to the Lebanese people that he published on social media, Mr. Macron said he had told the officials that “Lebanon must be preserved and war must be avoided” and that “a diplomatic path exists.”

The war in Gaza has badly strained U.S. and Israeli hopes for open relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, despite efforts by the Biden administration to establish ties between the two and to reshape the diplomatic map of the Middle East.

On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, declared that the kingdom would not normalize diplomatic relations with Israel before the establishment of a Palestinian state, appearing to harden his position on the issue.

“The kingdom will not cease its tireless efforts to establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and we affirm that the kingdom will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without one,” the crown prince said in an address to a senior advisory council.

For decades, Saudi Arabia, like most Arab countries, refused to recognize Israel without the creation of a state for the Palestinians. But after 2020, when four Arab states established formal ties with Israel in agreements brokered by President Donald J. Trump, Prince Mohammed became the first Saudi leader to talk openly about the possibility that Saudi Arabia could do the same.

Reporting was contributed by Michael Levenson, Ismaeel Naar, Adam Rasgon and Aurelien Breeden.

Our Coverage of the Middle East Crisis

• Device Attacks in Lebanon: A day after pagers exploded across Lebanon, a second wave of deadly blasts rocked the country, as hand-held radios carried by Hezbollah members blew up.
• Israel’s Audacious Attack: What did Israel’s device attacks in Lebanon accomplish, and what did they cost? “The Daily” explains.
• Chaos Inside Hezbollah: The attacks targeting Hezbollah’s devices caused thousands of injuries, piercing the group’s rank and file and raising questions about how it will respond.
• Hamas’s Future in Gaza: One of Hamas’s most senior officials said in an interview that the militant group expects to play a decisive role in the enclave when the war with Israel is over.
• A Struggle to Celebrate: Since the Oct. 7 attacks and the start of the war in Gaza, marking major holidays has been completely upended for three religions in the region.