Israel and Lebanon’s Shia Islamist militant outfit Hezbollah have reached a ceasefire after months of deadly conflict which stemmed from ever-present tensions over the Gaza war but went through the roof after the wave of explosions on September 17 and 18 this year in handheld pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to the Lebanese group’s members, killing 37 people and injuring thousands.
The pager and walkie-talkie explosions were described as sophisticated remote attack carried out by Israel which Hezbollah vowed to avenge. The pager explosions, though never claimed by Israel, were the triggering point of an all-out war between the Tel Aviv and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, clashing since the October 7, 2023 – the Hamas attack on Israel.
With Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah reaching a ceasefire now after hundreds of deaths, countless exchange of missiles and threats, here’s a look at the sequence of key events that sparked the conflict.
What is Hezbollah
Hezbollah, a Shia Islamist paramilitary outfit is Lebanon’s most powerful armed force, is a close ally and a proxy of Iran, which supports Palestinian groups like Hamas, which infiltrated into Israel on October 7, 2023, igniting the Gaza war.
Hezbollah began firing into northern Israel the day after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, saying it was acting in solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Israel returned fire, and the two sides have been exchanging barrages ever since.’
What happened on October 7, 2023
Hamas, a Palestinian militant group that is designated as a foreign terrorist organisation by the United States (US), infiltrated from the Gaza Strip into bordering areas in Israel under what the outfit termed ‘Operation Al Aqsa Flood’.
Hamas men infiltrated into Israel in vehicles like pickup trucks, boats, and even with motorised paragliders to breach the security barrier and attack Israeli towns, residents, and military posts.
In this attack, nearly 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed, including 815 civilians. In addition, 251 Israelis and foreigners were taken as hostage by Hamas into Gaza, with the stated goal to force Israel to release Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
This escalated into a full-blown war between the two sides after Israel’s Netanyahu vowed to exact a price for the massacre.
Placing Hezbollah in Israel-Gaza conflict
Hezbollah had been attacking Israel since October 7, 2023, said it was acting in solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas, a fellow Iran-backed militant group. Israel returned fire, and the two sides have been exchanging barrages ever since.
Iran supports Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the two militant movements in Gaza and has created allies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and of Shiite militias in Iraq to pursue its goals of fighting Israel. Iran-sponsored existing groups with overlapping goals, such as PIJ and Hamas in the Palestinian territories and the Houthis in Yemen also are fighting Israel.
Also Read: Hezbollah spokesman, who ‘wielded major influence’ killed in Israeli strike on Beirut
Iran’s proxies, Houthis in Yemen as well as Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed groups, are also called the “axis of resistance.”
With Iran mostly refraining from directly attacking Israel, and vice versa, its proxies like Hezbollah have taken forward the solidarity movement in support of Palestinians.
Iran, however, on October 1 launched missiles at Israel in response to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Revolutionary Guard General Abbas Nilforushan, both killed in an Israeli airstrike in September in Lebanon’s Beirut. In this, Iran also included revenge for the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, a top leader of the Hamas who was assassinated in Tehran in a suspected Israeli attack in July this year.
The pager explosion that escalated tensions
While Israel and Hezbollah have carried out repeated strikes against each other since the war on Gaza began on October 7, 2023, tensions between the two skyrocketed following the wave of explosions in Lebanon that hit pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members in September this year, killing at least 37 people, including two children, and leaving about 3,000 injured.
The first round of blasts went off on September 17 wherever the holders of the pagers or walkie-talkies – mostly Hezbollah members – happened to be in multiple parts of Beirut and eastern and southern Lebanon. The pager and walkie-talkie holders were in their houses, cars, grocery stores and cafes, on the street, even at a funeral for some killed in bombings.
The second round of explosions was reported next day as walkie-talkies and solar equipment exploded in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon.
Hezbollah’s top leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike in September, had vowed to retaliate after the alleged remote attack, sparking the exchange of missiles and drones.
Israel escalated its campaign in mid-September, launching airstrikes that killed Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah and most of his deputies.
Israeli ground troops entered Lebanon at the start of October and have been battling Hezbollah in a belt of towns and villages near the border.
According to Lebanese health officials, over 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon, many of them civilians. The Israeli bombardment has also forced 1.2 million people in Lebanon out of their homes to camp out in public parks and beaches. Israel claims to have killed more than 2,000 Hezbollah members.
Hezbollah fire has forced some 50,000 Israelis to evacuate in the country’s north, according to a report by The Associated Press.