Iran Tells Hezbollah Chief Israel Will Face ‘Crushing Response’ after Comms Attack

People watch Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah delivering a televised speech at a coffee shop in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, 19 September 2024. (EPA)
People watch Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah delivering a televised speech at a coffee shop in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, 19 September 2024. (EPA)
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Iran Tells Hezbollah Chief Israel Will Face ‘Crushing Response’ after Comms Attack

People watch Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah delivering a televised speech at a coffee shop in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, 19 September 2024. (EPA)
People watch Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah delivering a televised speech at a coffee shop in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, 19 September 2024. (EPA)

Israel will face "a crushing response from the axis of resistance", Iran's Revolutionary Guards Commander Hossein Salami told Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday according to state media, after attacks on Lebanese Hezbollah's communication devices.

The axis of resistance refers to Iran-aligned armed groups in the Middle East, including Lebanon's Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthis, and Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces.

Lebanon and Hezbollah have blamed Israel for the attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday that killed 37 people and wounded around 3,000, although Israel has not directly commented on the attacks, which security sources say were probably carried out by its Mossad spy agency.

"Such terrorist acts are undoubtedly the result of the Zionist regime's (Israel) despair and successive failures. This will soon be met with a crushing response from the axis of resistance and we will witness the destruction of this bloodthirsty and criminal regime," Salami said in his message to Nasrallah.

Iran and Israel often threaten each other with the destruction of their respective regimes, following decades of tensions which culminated in Iran directly launching drones and missiles on Israel last April, following a deadly Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Syria.

Nasrallah spoke on Thursday, saying the deadly attacks that blew up Hezbollah radios and pagers "crossed all red lines" and "could be called a declaration of war."



Celebrations Erupt in Lebanon over Gaza Ceasefire

A torn Palestinian flag flutters at the Bourj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A torn Palestinian flag flutters at the Bourj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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Celebrations Erupt in Lebanon over Gaza Ceasefire

A torn Palestinian flag flutters at the Bourj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A torn Palestinian flag flutters at the Bourj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Celebrations erupted in several areas in Lebanon following the announcement of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Many people flooded the streets in Palestinian refugee camps, as well as cities like Sidon in the south, Tripoli in the north and Beirut’s southern suburbs. People marched or rode motorcycles, honking in celebration while waving Hamas flags.
In some areas, nonstop shooting and fireworks rang out. Images circulated on social media showing several people wounded, with at least one killed, by stray bullets.
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has strong ties to Hamas and had opened a support front on the day after Hamas’s attack Oct. 7, 2023, on Israel. This led to a 14-month war between Hezbollah and Israel, which ended with a US-brokered ceasefire on Nov. 27.
Hezbollah has not commented on the Gaza ceasefire.