Israeli PM Netanyahu admits approving September pager attacks on Hezbollah

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, has acknowledged that he "approved" the September pager attacks in Lebanon that left around 3,000 Iranian-backed Hezbollah members injured and nearly 40 dead.

According to his spokesperson, Omer Dostri, "Netanyahu confirmed Sunday that he greenlighted the pager operation in Lebanon."

Iran and Hezbollah blamed Israel for the Sep 17 and 18 explosions of thousands of pagers in Hezbollah strongholds.

According to reports, some of the wounded Hezbollah militants lost fingers, while others lost their vision.

Hezbollah had threatened to seek revenge and referred to the explosions as an "Israeli breach" of its communications network.

Hezbollah members used the pagers as a low-tech communication tool to avoid Israeli location monitoring.

The explosions occurred just hours after Israel declared that it was expanding the war's objectives, which had been triggered by Hamas' Oct 7 strikes, to include combating Hezbollah and the group's allies along Israel's border with Lebanon.

Days after Beirut filed a complaint against Tel Aviv at the UN over the pager attacks, Netanyahu made his first public acknowledgment of the attacks, which served as the spark for Israeli strikes on Lebanon.

Israel has yet to confirm or deny its involvement in the remotely detonated explosions that hit Hezbollah members' pagers and walkie-talkies in Sep.

Beirut traveled to Geneva and officially lodged the complaint against Israel at the International Labour Organization, a large UN agency that unites governments, corporations, and laborers, according to Lebanese Labor Minister Moustafa Bayram and other officials.

"This method of warfare and conflict may open the way for many who are evading international humanitarian law to adopt this method of warfare," the minister said.

Lebanon filed a complaint with the United Nations Labour Agency, describing the horrific attack as an "egregious war against humanity."

Since the conflict in Gaza broke out after Hamas attacked Israeli cities on Oct 7, 2023, Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in combat across the Lebanese border.

Since then, a number of Hezbollah fighters have been killed, including Hassan Nasrallah, the former leader of the group supported by Iran.

Last month, Israel's army said that it "eliminated" Hezbollah's Hashem Safieddine, a probable successor to Nasrallah, in a strike in southern Beirut.

Israel launched airstrikes on Hezbollah's major stronghold in southern Beirut on Nov 7.

One of the raids targeted a neighborhood close to Lebanon's sole international airport, causing minor damage to some of the airport's structures, including the headquarters of flag carrier Middle East Airlines.

Israeli bombings in Lebanon have killed almost 3,000 civilians since Oct 2023.