Lebanese FM says Hezbollah’s response to Israeli attacks ‘inevitable’
A response by Hezbollah to the consecutive Israeli attacks is “inevitable”, Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said on Wednesday, referring to the explosion of pager communication devices and walkie-talkies used by the Lebanese Resistance group’s members.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Health reported that at least 20 people were killed and more than 450 injured in Wednesday’s second wave of Israeli electronic attacks.
In an interview with CNN‘s Christiane Amanpour, the top diplomat pointed out that “Hezbollah has been dealt a severe blow, and therefore a response is inevitable,” adding that after the latest Israeli attacks, the Lebanese government “cannot communicate with Hezbollah now in the same way we did in the past.”
Bou Habib cautioned that the deadly explosions could be a warning of a broader war in the West Asia region.
He also highlighted the seriousness of the incident, “because it comes after Israeli threats to expand the focus of the war with Lebanon, which would plunge the region into a larger cycle of violence, and signal a wider war.”
“It’s a scary moment and we are afraid [of] coming to war, because we don’t want a war,” he stressed.
Following the first wave of electronic attacks on Tuesday, which killed at least 12 people and injured between 2,750 and 2,800 others, Hezbollah vowed retaliation against “the massacre” that “Israel” committed.
