Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of crisis in the Middle East.
After a second wave of device explosions suspected to be an Israeli attack targeting Hezbollah members in Lebanon killed 20, focus is now turning to the manufacturer of the walkie-talkies reportedly used in the blasts.
Images of the exploded walkie-talkies examined by Reuters showed an inside panel labeled “ICOM” and “made in Japan.” However Icom has said it stopped producing the model of radios reportedly used in the blasts about 10 years ago.
“The IC-V82 is a handheld radio that was produced and exported, including to the Middle East, from 2004 to October 2014. It was discontinued about 10 years ago, and since then, it has not been shipped from our company,” Icom said in a statement.
Wednesday’s blasts, came a day after the simultaneous explosion of hundreds of paging devices used by Hezbollah killing 12 people, including two children. Hezbollah blamed the unprecedented attack on Israel.
More on this in a moment, first here’s a summary of they day’s other main events.
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Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attacks in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed in a brief statement on Wednesday to return tens of thousands of residents evacuated from northern border areas to their homes.
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Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, declared the start of a “new phase” of the war with a focus on the northern front. Gallant, speaking to Israeli troops on Wednesday, did not mention the explosions of devices in Lebanon but he praised the work of Israel’s army and security agencies, noting that the “results are very impressive”.
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Hezbollah on Tuesday promised a “fair punishment” for the explosions. Lebanon’s Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is expected to give a speech on Thursday. Reports suggest Israel managed to place explosives in thousands of pagers bought by Hezbollah.
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The US was not involved “in any way” in the wave of explosions that took place in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday, the White House claimed. National security adviser John Kirby told reporters on that it was “too soon to know” if the explosions aimed at Hezbollah across recent days would have an impact on a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
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Hezbollah said it had attacked Israeli artillery positions with rockets on Wednesday in the first cross-border attack since the Tuesday pager blasts. An Israeli journalist said a barrage of 10 rockets was fired from Lebanon at western Galilee, causing no injuries.
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The UN secretary general, António Guterres, was “deeply alarmed” by reports that a large number of communication devices exploded across Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday and Wednesday. The UN security council will meet on Friday to discuss the wave of device explosions across Lebanon targeting Hezbollah. The UN’s high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, said those responsible for the explosions “must be held to account”.
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The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, described the pager detonations in Lebanon as “extremely worrying”, and said they had caused “heavy, indiscriminate collateral damages among civilians”. Irish foreign minister Micheál Martin said the pager detonations showed a “wanton disregard” for the lives of civilians.
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In a symbolic step exposing Israel’s continued international isolation, the UN general assembly has voted overwhelmingly to direct Israel to leave the occupied Palestinian territories within a year. The non-binding vote follows a historic advisory ruling in July by the international court of justice (ICJ) urging Israel to cease “its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory as soon as possible and stop all settlement activity there immediately”.
Key events
Here is a reminder of the statements, via Reuters, from Japan’s ICOM, the company linked to the walkie-talkies that exploded in Lebanon yesterday.
They said it was not possible to confirm whether the radio product reportedly related to Lebanon explosions was shipped by the company. They said the batteries required to operate the device, for which sales had been discontinued about 10 years ago, had also already been discontinued. They also stated that their products had undergone a strict regulatory process set by the Japanese government.
Australia was one of 43 countries that abstained in a non-binding UN vote urging Israel to cease “its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory as soon as possible and stop all settlement activity there immediately”.
It was the first resolution tabled by Palestine since the UN general assembly voted in May by 143 to nine to upgrade Palestine’s UN observer status by giving the Palestinian delegation the right to submit resolutions.
Australia’s UN ambassador, James Larsen, told the UN general assembly that Australia “supports many of the principles of this resolution” and was “already doing much of what it calls for” he argued that the vote “distracts from what the world needs Israel to do.”
The latest resolution urges member states to end the import of products originating in the Israeli settlements and to stop the provision of arms, munitions and related equipment to Israel “if it is reasonable to suspect that they may be used in the occupied Palestinian territory”.
Over 530 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank between 7 October 2023 and 8 July of this year.
In its latest operation update, Israel’s military has claimed that its airforce has struck overnight at what it called “Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure” in six areas of southern Lebanon, and also struck at what it called a “Hezbollah weapons storage facility.”
Israel’s military also claimed to have used artillery fire on southern Lebanon.
Thousands of people in Lebanon and Israel have been forced to flee their homes due to the frequent exchanges of fire between Israel and anti-Israeli forces in the region.
Israel’s claims have not been independently verified.
Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of crisis in the Middle East.
After a second wave of device explosions suspected to be an Israeli attack targeting Hezbollah members in Lebanon killed 20, focus is now turning to the manufacturer of the walkie-talkies reportedly used in the blasts.
Images of the exploded walkie-talkies examined by Reuters showed an inside panel labeled “ICOM” and “made in Japan.” However Icom has said it stopped producing the model of radios reportedly used in the blasts about 10 years ago.
“The IC-V82 is a handheld radio that was produced and exported, including to the Middle East, from 2004 to October 2014. It was discontinued about 10 years ago, and since then, it has not been shipped from our company,” Icom said in a statement.
Wednesday’s blasts, came a day after the simultaneous explosion of hundreds of paging devices used by Hezbollah killing 12 people, including two children. Hezbollah blamed the unprecedented attack on Israel.
More on this in a moment, first here’s a summary of they day’s other main events.
-
Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attacks in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed in a brief statement on Wednesday to return tens of thousands of residents evacuated from northern border areas to their homes.
-
Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, declared the start of a “new phase” of the war with a focus on the northern front. Gallant, speaking to Israeli troops on Wednesday, did not mention the explosions of devices in Lebanon but he praised the work of Israel’s army and security agencies, noting that the “results are very impressive”.
-
Hezbollah on Tuesday promised a “fair punishment” for the explosions. Lebanon’s Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is expected to give a speech on Thursday. Reports suggest Israel managed to place explosives in thousands of pagers bought by Hezbollah.
-
The US was not involved “in any way” in the wave of explosions that took place in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday, the White House claimed. National security adviser John Kirby told reporters on that it was “too soon to know” if the explosions aimed at Hezbollah across recent days would have an impact on a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
-
Hezbollah said it had attacked Israeli artillery positions with rockets on Wednesday in the first cross-border attack since the Tuesday pager blasts. An Israeli journalist said a barrage of 10 rockets was fired from Lebanon at western Galilee, causing no injuries.
-
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, was “deeply alarmed” by reports that a large number of communication devices exploded across Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday and Wednesday. The UN security council will meet on Friday to discuss the wave of device explosions across Lebanon targeting Hezbollah. The UN’s high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, said those responsible for the explosions “must be held to account”.
-
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, described the pager detonations in Lebanon as “extremely worrying”, and said they had caused “heavy, indiscriminate collateral damages among civilians”. Irish foreign minister Micheál Martin said the pager detonations showed a “wanton disregard” for the lives of civilians.
-
In a symbolic step exposing Israel’s continued international isolation, the UN general assembly has voted overwhelmingly to direct Israel to leave the occupied Palestinian territories within a year. The non-binding vote follows a historic advisory ruling in July by the international court of justice (ICJ) urging Israel to cease “its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory as soon as possible and stop all settlement activity there immediately”.