The beginning of Israel and Hezbollah: In 1982, Lebanon, seven years deep into civil war, was partially occupied by Israel in retaliation for Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) attacks on Israel orchestrated from within Southern Lebanon. To combat the Lebanon’s partial occupation by Israel resistance groups formed in Lebanon, one of which was Hezbollah which represented the traditionally quiet demographic of Shia Muslims. Hezbollah were able to grasp stability and unity amongst the chaos of war and pushed out Israel’s forces. As such they have a strong anti-Israel tradition, have stood firmly alongside their Palestinian allies working with Hamas and maintain that they will not rest until Palestine is free. Supported fiscally and militarily by Iran, Hezbollah is represented in Lebanon’s government and controls the most powerful armed force in the country. Despite this, Hezbollah is considered by Israel, the US and the UK to be a terrorist organisation. Israel and Hezbollah evidently have a complex history that has recently come to a head in the last two weeks. 

Tuesday 17th September – The Pager Explosions 

On Tuesday the 17th of September Israel publicly stated it had a new agenda in the war: to return the tens of thousands displaced Israelis who had evacuated their Northern Israel homes because of the Hezbollah rocket fire across the Israel-Lebanon border that has continued for several  months. This decision foreshadowed Israel’s possible desire to escalate military action.

 Later that day in Beirut, Lebanon, at 15:30 local time a series of explosions began. Pagers of Hezbollah members were said to have rung seconds before then exploding, appearing to signal a message from their leadership before then detonating. Witnesses stated smoke rose from people’s pockets followed by small explosions that sounded like fireworks and gunshots. Reports stated the blasts continued for a further hour and a half across Lebanon and Syria killing 13 people and seriously injuring nearly 4,000 in total. These included the group’s fighters as well as Iran’s envoy to Beirut, Mojtaba Amani. 

 Although the attacks were targeted at Hezbollah members, many of the casualties were civilians, and several were children. Carnage ensued as emergency services raced to reach the victims and to deal with the damage caused by the detonations. Israel did not officially comment on their responsibility for these attacks, but the involvement of Israel’s military and the Mossad, their spy service, seems evident. 

Wednesday 18th September – The Second Set of explosions – Walkie-Talkies  

On Wednesday the 18th September, thousands attended the funerals of those killed in the blasts the previous day and several thousand more waited in overwhelmed hospitals for treatment for injuries. It was at these funerals that the next set of explosions were heard. This time, walkie-talkies  mysteriously began exploding in the crowds gathered to mourn, killing 20 people, four of which were not Hezbollah members but children. Once again Israel has not commented on their involvement.

Manufacturing Electronic Devices 

It was speculated after both sets of attacks, that the manufacturers could have been involved from the start. Remnants from both instances identify the pagers as being produced by the Taiwanese firm Gold Apollo, and the walkie-talkies as being from the Japanese ICOM.   

Hezbollah uses low-tech means of communication to maintain secrecy from Israeli-location tracking who are actively attempting to assassinate its members. Consequently, the group ordered 5,000 of these low-tech AR- 924 pagers made by the Taiwan-based Gold Apollo, importing  them earlier in the year.  The day after the pagers exploded the company’s founder avidly denied that they had made them claiming, “the product was not ours. It was only that it had our brand on it”.

To orchestrate these attacks Israel’s spy service must have interfered “at the production level.” and that “the Mossad injected a board inside of the device that has explosive material that receives a code. It’s very hard to detect it through any means. Even with any device or scanner”.

3,000 pagers exploded when a coded message was sent to them, activating the explosives. At the end of the two violent days, it is estimated more than 4,000 were wounded and 42 were killed. The attacks undoubtedly hit Hezbollah hard and many awaited a response from their leader, Hassan Nasrallah. 

Thursday 19th September – Nasrallah’s response

Funerals continued into Thursday. An hour after the last ceremony, Hezbollah leader Nasrallah made his first appearance since the pager attacks. He stated that the events “would not bring us down” and vowed to continue fighting until a ceasefire in Gaza was achieved. During his speech Israeli fighter jets echoed in the background as they conducted mock air raids throwing flares and flying low over Beirut. The people of Gaza are somewhat familiar with these “sonic bombs” created by military aircraft breaking the sound barrier at very low altitude over built up areas. They are less familiar with the tactic in Lebanon. Despite the booming sounds, Nasrallah’s speech resonated with the Lebanese people who reportedly could be heard shouting to the sky in support across the capital.

However, apprehension grew as Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, made further comments about entering this new phase of war and pictures of tanks being transported to Northern Israel began circulating. This contributed to further concern that Israel would launch full scale conflict. 

 27th and 28th September – Israeli air strike on Lebanon

Israel proceeded to bombard Lebanon’s capital with a massive air strike throughout the night of 27th to 28th September, with the intention of blowing up Hezbollah headquarters and assassinating their leader Nasrallah. Specific details differ but it is clear Israel dropped multiple US-made 2,000 pound bombs on Beirut, resulting in the death of Hassan Nasrallah and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force Operations Commander Brig-Gen Abbas Nilforoushan. The extensive damage included killing 33 people, injuring 195 and levelling four multi story apartment buildings. After Nasrallah’s death was confirmed by Hezbollah on the 28th, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed his nation celebrating the assassination that he marked as a “turning point” in the war.  

Monday 30th September – Further Israeli strikes on Lebanon

Israeli air strikes continued in Lebanon and claimed several more lives, including Hamas representative in Lebanon Fateh Al-Sharif. Israel’s military announced his “elimination”, accusing him of being responsible for “terror activities” and coordinating communication between Hamas and Hezbollah. Hamas confirmed that he had died in his home alongside his wife, son and daughter in a strike that targeted the Palestinian refugee camp in Tyre, Southern Lebanon, in the early hours of the 30th September.

Tuesday 1st October- Iran fires missiles into Israel 

Israel announced at 2am local time that they would immediately commence a “localised, limited” ground assault into villages in Southern Lebanon as part of a wider objective to create a buffer zone along the Israel-Lebanon border. The USA and the UK appear to have urged Israel against this, afraid of the consequences that ensued that very evening by Iran. 

Iran provided no prior warning before firing 180 missiles into Israel but this reaction was in many ways inevitable. Tensions have risen to beyond boiling point in light of Israel’s killing of over 40,000 Palestinian civilians in Gaza as a response to the 1, 200 Israelis killed by Hamas on 7th October last year. Israel faces accusations of breaking humanitarian law and committing genocide. 

These Iranian strikes were a direct response to Israel’s decision to further expand their war into Lebanon and for targeting Hezbollah members in the weeks before. The attacks also sought to avenge the murders of  Ismail Haniyeh (Hamas political leader) who was killed several months ago in an Israeli attack, Hassan Nasrallah (Hezbollah leader) and Brig-Gen Abbas Nilforoushan, (IRGC Commander) who died in the Israeli air strike on the 27th of September in Beirut. Late on the 1st October,  Iran also stated that this was a warning not to take their expansion further and signalled that any Israeli response to the barrage would be met with “stronger and more painful” blows. 

Most notably, the missiles successfully targeted Nevatim and Tel Nof airbases as well as a reported Mossad HQ. Although aiming to detonate strategic military bases, one missile hit a school and many others were intercepted. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed that 90 percent of projectiles had struck their targets but Israel has been reluctant to reveal the entirety of the damage and no casualties have been reported so far. Iran had sent missiles into Israel in April but not nearly on this scale. The strength of Iran’s attack detrimentally altered the dynamics of this war, moving towards a direct confrontation between the armed forces of the two states. 

Wednesday 2nd October – Israel’s response to Iranian air strikes

The impact of Iran’s missiles spilled over into the 2nd October where Israel’s prime minister stated that Iran had made a big mistake” and vowed that “it will pay for it”. Iran has made clear that they have sufficient weapons and reserves to fight back harder if there is any Israeli retaliation. However, they have also stated that there would be no further escalation unless Israel continued the fighting. More than ever the international community rightfully fears an all out regional war. 

Meanwhile three of Israel’s tanks that had crossed into Lebanon were taken out by Hezbollah resulting in the deaths of eight Israeli soldiers today.

Comments made by the former Prime Minister of Israel contributed to international concern as he openly called the UN Secretary-General António Guterres a “coward” on television after he felt his reaction to Iran’s actions was not severe enough. The Secretary-General had taken to twitter where he said that he was “condemning the broadening of the Middle East conflict”  and that this was further motivation to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza. His words resulted in Israel’s Foreign Minister issuing a formal ban stopping him from entering Israel.  

Thursday 3rd October- Southern Lebanon struck again

In the early hours of the morning Israel showed Iran its response, striking Southern Beirut again attacking Hezbollah. The Lebanese Minister for Public Health stated nearly a million people have been evacuated from their homes in this area, and that there have been 20 airstrikes in the last 24 hours resulting in the deaths of 37 people and thousands injured. 

Israel claimed that these attacks were aimed at Hezbollah infrastructure, however this definition has expanded to include medical facilities that were affiliated with the group. This has produced a near medical emergency in Lebanon with 28 healthcare workers dead within a day, 9 of which were in a hospital targeted because of its connections to Hezbollah. Five hospitals in the South have also been fully evacuated, making medical treatment difficult and dangerous to find. A TV station (because of its affiliation with Hezbollah) and an airport were struck, resulting in limited coverage on the conflict and many unable to escape. Currently, there have been more than 110 Israeli airstrikes across the South of Lebanon and Hezbollah has yet to make a statement, however they have confirmed that conflict on the border has killed 17 Israeli soldiers.

Friday 4th October – Israel attacks Lebanon and West Bank again

It was confirmed that the intense bombing of Beirut the previous night was with the intention of killing Hashem Safieddine, the cousin of Hassan Nasrallah, and expected future leader of Hezbollah. Whether he has survived the blasts is unknown but he remains in the same area that his cousin was assassinated in just last week, Dahieh, Lebanon. The group has been cautious not to make public announcements as it has become increasingly clear that Israel’s attacks seek to obliterate the group and not simply weaken it. 

These are the most intense strikes to hit Lebanon so far, but Israel has also taken the time to launch devastating bombs in the occupied West Bank’s Tulkarem refugee camp, killing at least 18 Palestinians. Israel shows no intention of slowing down. 

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is set to lead the Friday prayer and deliver a public sermon which many hope will provide insight into the state’s plans after their attack on Israel some days before. 

Crucially, the anniversary of the 7th October attack will arrive on Monday which fuels trepidation for what Israel may inflict next.

Saturday 5th October- Lebanon plummets into crisis

The humanitarian emergency in Lebanon is escalating, with reports of a shelter with a max capacity of 350 people forced to hold 550, and another shelter with only six showers for around 1,000 people, nearly 40% of whom are children. Despite these extremities, Israel continues to target Hezbollah members and subsequently kills civilians. Anger is swelling in Lebanon towards Israeli forces and Hezbollah. 

Foreign nationals have been strongly urged to leave Lebanon as air strikes and the number of displaced people intensify. However, flights have been cancelled across the region because of the Israeli rockets. 

Sunday 6th October- the World waits

Israel openly states that they won’t rule out attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities during a conversation with Laura Kuenssber, the Israeli ambassador to the UK. Israeli forces continue to move further into Lebanon, declaring more villages to be evacuated. A woman in the Israeli border police was killed and ten more Israelis injured in the Southern Israeli city of Be’er Sheva. Details are still unclear but Israeli media claims it to have been a terrorist attack and that the assailant has been “neutralised”.

Both Israel and Hezbollah have not released a comment on whether  Hashem Safieddine,  the possible Nasrallah successor, has been assassinated by the IDF yet. 

On the eve of the Hamas attack anniversary, Israel strikes Beirut yet again.

Monday October 7th- Hamas attack anniversary 

Hamas has fired a barrage of rockets at Tel-Aviv. The IDF stated that three rockets were intercepted and that a fourth fell in an open area. Unlike the horrific scenes in Lebanon and Gaza, there have been no reports of damage or casualties.  

At the time of writing, there is continued rocket fire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces. It remains unclear who will step forward to lead Hezbollah.

Image of Israeli airstrike on Beirut, Lebanon by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay