‘Israel Is Going to War’: Attacks on Hezbollah Devices Signal Jewish State Ready for Escalation

TEL AVIV—As Hezbollah terrorists across Lebanon spontaneously combusted for a second straight day on Wednesday, war-weary Israelis were enjoying the show.

But they were also asking what comes next. Were the thousands of explosions the start of a long-anticipated Israeli offensive against Hezbollah or just another tit-for-tat response to the Iran-backed terror group’s nearly yearlong bombardment of the Jewish state’s northern region?

"It’s really amazing, you know?" Amit Alfer, 57, a longtime resident of the north, told the Washington Free Beacon, referring to the attacks, some of which were apparently captured in video clips that have circulated widely online and spawned countless jokes and memes in Hebrew and Arabic. "We’re watching and waiting. The main thing is this has to be the beginning of a chain of actions. Otherwise, it’s nothing."

Alfer, a shiatsu therapist and father of three from Rosh Hanikra, is among some 60,000 Israelis who have been unable to return to their homes near the Lebanon border since Iran and its proxies launched a multifront assault on the country starting on Oct. 7. Like many Israelis, Alfer has grown increasingly impatient in recent months as Israel has carried out several daring operations against Hezbollah and Iranian targets but then held back from major action to push Hezbollah back from the northern border so that the evacuees can return home.

This time, however, appears different.

The second wave of explosions on Wednesday mainly targeted hand-held radios carried by Hezbollah terrorists, killing at least 14 people and wounding at least 450, according to Lebanese officials. On Tuesday, at least 12 people were killed and 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah simultaneously blew up, Lebanese officials said. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon was among those hospitalized. Hezbollah announced the deaths of 12 of its members, including some killed in separate Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon. Saudi Arabian news outlet Al Hadath reported that the explosions also killed 19 and wounded 15 members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps in Syria.

The blasts have been widely attributed to Israel, and Hezbollah and Iran have vowed to retaliate against the "Zionist regime." Israel has not commented on the attacks.

According to news reports, Israeli intelligence services booby-trapped the Hezbollah devices about five months ago, before they were imported to Lebanon, and had planned to detonate them as a surprise first strike in an all-out war against Hezbollah. Israel reportedly acted early when a Hezbollah terrorist became suspicious of the devices and planned to alert his superiors.

"These attacks were really kind of like science fiction. Nothing like that has ever happened before," said Alfer, a former IDF reconnaissance officer who fought in Israel’s 2006 Lebanon war. "So there is huge hope."

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, defense minister Yoav Gallant, Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Herzi Halevi, and other officials issued statements on Wednesday that seemed to suggest Israel’s war in Gaza against the Iran-backed Palestinian terror group Hamas was winding down and full-scale war in Lebanon was imminent.

"The center of gravity is moving north. We are diverting forces, resources, and energy toward the north," Gallant told Israeli Air Force personnel at the Ramat David Airbase in remarks released by his office. "I believe that we are at the onset of a new phase in this war, and we need to adapt."

"I’ve already said, we will return residents of the north safely to their homes," Netanyahu said in a short video. "And that is exactly what we will do."

A day earlier, Israel’s security cabinet voted to expand the goals of the Gaza war to include the safe return of the evacuees to the north.

Also on Wednesday, the IDF announced the deployment of the 98th Division’s 10,000-plus troops to the north. The paratroopers and commandos, who until recently were fighting in Gaza, will join the 36th Division under the Northern Command.

"This means that Israel is going to war [in Lebanon]. That’s it," Amir Avivi, a reserve brigadier general who has advised Netanyahu throughout the war, told the Free Beacon of the deployment. "We need to go in now, and we are seeing it happening, step by step."

Avivi, who heads the Israel Defense and Security Forum, a coalition of hawkish reserve soldiers, predicted that the attacks on Hezbollah devices will still end up being an opening blow in the next Lebanon war.

"We basically targeted all the leadership of Hezbollah. You have hundreds of commanders who died, hundreds who went blind, hundreds who were burned or lost a hand, and some of them left the beepers in their pants, so you can imagine what they’re without now," he said.

Avivi could not say for sure why Israel did not invade Lebanon this week. He said it may be that the government seeks to accommodate the Biden administration’s efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict with Hezbollah for as long as possible. But he said diplomacy has clearly run its course and the IDF is making final preparations for a ground incursion in the north.

"Northern Command is almost at full readiness," he said. "The only thing that maybe is not completely ready is the ground forces that are being moved now from the south to the north."

According to Avivi, Israel must invade Lebanon before the start of winter, when cold and wet weather will make such an operation much more difficult and fog will interfere with airstrikes. He said Israel would also want to act before Election Day, Nov. 5, "because I don't see the [Biden] administration going against Israel in the middle of elections."

Yacov Amidror, a reserve major general and former national security adviser to Netanyahu, was only slightly less definitive. He said the attacks on the Hezbollah devices had dealt a sustained blow to the group’s leadership and communications while signaling that Israel was ready for escalation. Like Avivi, he assessed that Israel had done enough damage to Hamas to safely shift focus to Hezbollah.

"We are ready to take the risk of a war [in the north]. This is the difference strategically [from the recent past]," said Amidror, a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, a think tank. "Everything together is leading to the conclusion that there is no other way to return the evacuees to their homes. The decision is in the hands of Hezbollah."

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