Israeli
warplanes carried out late on Thursday their most intense strikes on southern
Lebanon in nearly a year of war, heightening the conflict between Israel and
Lebanese armed group Hezbollah amid calls for restraint.
The White
House said a diplomatic solution was achievable and urgent, and Britain called
for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. The U.S. is
"afraid and concerned about potential escalation," White House
spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told a briefing.
The intense
barrage followed attacks earlier in the week attributed by Lebanon and
Hezbollah to Israel that blew up Hezbollah radios and pagers, killing 37 people
and wounding about 3,000 in Lebanon.
In
Thursday's late operation, Israel's military said its jets over two hours
struck hundreds of multiple-rocket-launcher barrels in southern Lebanon that
were set to be fired immediately toward Israel.
The
bombardment included more than 52 strikes across southern Lebanon after 9
p.m.(1800 GMT), Lebanon's state news agency NNA said. Three Lebanese security
sources said these were the heaviest aerial strikes since the conflict began in
October.
There were
no immediate reports of casualties.
Israel's
military vowed to continue to attack Hezbollah and said its strikes throughout
Thursday hit about 100 rocket launchers plus other targets in southern Lebanon.
In a TV
address on Thursday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the device
explosions on Tuesday and Wednesday "crossed all red lines".
"The
enemy went beyond all controls, laws and morals," he said, adding the
attacks "could be considered war crimes or a declaration of war."
Israel has
not directly commented on the pager and radio detonations, which security
sources say were probably carried out by its Mossad spy agency, which has a
long history of carrying out sophisticated attacks on foreign soil.
The Lebanese
mission to the U.N. said in a letter to the
Security Council on Thursday that Israel was responsible for
detonating the devices via electronic messages and explosives implanted in them
before they arrived in Lebanon, in line with theories that have circulated
since the explosions.
The
15-member Security Council is due to meet on Friday over the blasts. Lebanese
Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on the Security Council to take a firm stand
to stop Israel's "aggression" and "technological war".
ISRAEL VOWS
HEZBOLLAH TO PAY 'INCREASING PRICE'
As
Nasrallah's broadcast aired, deafening sonic booms from Israeli warplanes shook
Beirut, a sound that has become common in recent months but has taken on
greater significance as the threat of all-out war has ramped up.
Israeli
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said late on Thursday that Israel will keep up
military action against Hezbollah.
"In the
new phase of the war there are significant opportunities but also significant
risks. Hezbollah feels that it is being persecuted and the sequence of military
actions will continue," Gallant said in a statement.
"Our
goal is to ensure the safe return of Israel's northern communities to their
homes. As time goes by, Hezbollah will pay an increasing price," Gallant
said.
Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his close circle of ministers for
consultations, Israel's Channel 13 News reported.
Two Israeli
soldiers were killed in combat on Thursday in Israel's north, the Israeli
military said.
'BIG HARSH
BLOW'
Hezbollah
fired missiles at Israel the day after the Oct. 7 cross-border attack by the
Palestinian militant group Hamas which triggered the Gaza war.
Since then,
constant exchanges of fire have occurred. Although neither side has allowed
this to escalate into full-scale war, it has led to the evacuation of tens of
thousands of people from the border area on both sides.
Nasrallah
said Hezbollah hoped Israeli troops would enter southern Lebanon because that
would create a "historic opportunity" for the Iran-backed group.
No military
escalation, killing, assassinations or all-out war would return Israeli
residents to the border area, he added.
Israel will
face "a crushing response from the axis of resistance", Iran's
Revolutionary Guards Commander Hossein Salami told Nasrallah on Thursday,
according to state media, referring to a coalition of Iran-aligned militant
groups including Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthis, Hamas and armed groups in Iraq and
Syria.
Speaking in
Paris, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged restraint, adding he did
not want to see escalatory actions by any party that make a Gaza-ceasefire deal
more difficult.
The attacks
on Hezbollah communications equipment sowed fear across Lebanon, with people
abandoning electronic devices for fear of carrying bombs in
their pockets.
Nasrallah
said thousands of pagers had been targeted simultaneously, with some of the
explosions happening in hospitals, pharmacies, markets, shops and streets busy
with civilians, women and children.
Israel says
its conflict with Hezbollah, like its war in Gaza against Hamas, is part of a
wider regional confrontation with Iran, which sponsors both groups as well as
armed movements in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
Israel has
been accused of assassinations including a blast in Tehran that killed the
leader of Hamas and another in a Beirut suburb that killed a senior Hezbollah
commander within hours of each other in July.