Fears of escalation grow as Israel signals readiness for war with Hezbollah. Here's what to know

 

Ambulances are surrounded by people at the entrance of the American University of Beirut Medical Center, on September 17, after paging devices exploded simultaneously across Lebanon. 

Anwar Amro/AFP/Getty Images

The deadly explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies across Lebanon this week revealed an unprecedented infiltration of militant group Hezbollah’s critical command and control networks.

The explosions killed at least 37 people, including children, and wounded more than 3,000 others.

Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel, but questions remain on how the compromised Iran-backed paramilitary group will respond.

Israel’s defense minister has said a “new era” of its war is beginning and “the center of gravity is moving north,” referencing the country’s border with Lebanon, tacitly acknowledging the military’s role in the device attacks.

This week’s stealth attacks risk pushing the embattled region to the brink of wider conflict.

Here’s what to know:

• Cross-border attacks: Israel and Hezbollah exchanged dozens of strikes Thursday. The Israeli military said it hit about 100 rocket launchers, while Hezbollah said it launched at least 17 attacks on military sites in Israel.     
• Israeli jet flew over Beirut: Israel dropped flares over the Lebanese capital and sent windows shaking with a fresh wave of sonic booms about 20 minutes into Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s first broadcast speech after the device attacks. CNN’s Ben Wedeman was live on air as it happened.
• “The reckoning will come”: Hezbollah chief Nasrallah condemned the stealth attacks targeting pagers and walkie-talkies, saying Israel “crossed all the red lines” and that “the reckoning will come.”
• “Crushing response”: Israel will soon face “a decisive and crushing response from (the) axis of resistance,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander Hossein Salami told Hezbollah chief Nasrallah, according to Iranian state media. Iran’s “axis of resistance” is a network of Shia militias that span four Middle Eastern countries.
• Hezbollah’s arsenal: Hezbollah is believed to be the most heavily armed non-state group in the world. But it has now been backed into a corner by the device attacks, with its credibility as the most well-equipped, well-trained and highly disciplined of Iran’s proxies now at risk.
• “Terrifying” violation: A group of United Nations experts said the device attacks “violate the human right to life” and called them “terrifying” violations of international law.