Live: View of Beirut following walkie-talkie explosions as Israel says Hezbollah rocket launchers struck
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Your support makes all the difference.Watch a view of Beirut on Friday, 20 September, after the Israeli military carried out its most extensive airstrikes on southern Lebanon since the start of the Gaza war, saying it has struck around 100 Hezbollah rocket launchers as well as other “terrorist sites”.
It comes after hand-held walkie-talkie radios used by the armed group were detonated across Lebanon’s south on Wednesday, heightening fears of an escalation into a full-blown regional war, a day after electronic pagers belonging to the group simultaneously exploded in Lebanon and Syria.
Lebanon’s health minister said on Thursday that the death toll from the second attack in Beirut’s suburbs and the Bekaa Valley has now risen to 25, with at least 608 injured. A further 12 people were killed in explosions the previous day, including two children, with nearly 2,300 wounded.
“We are opening a new phase in the war,” Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said in the aftermath.
A Lebanese security source claimed Israel’s spy agency Mossad planted explosives in thousands of the devices months before they exploded.
The Israeli military, in keeping with its policy of not remarking on attacks outside of its own territory, told The Independent that it is “refraining from commenting”.
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