Lebanon's Hezbollah chief has said that Israel had dealt an "unprecedented" blow to his group, crossing all red lines with device explosions that killed 37 people and wounded nearly 3,000 over two days.
"With this operation, the enemy crossed all ... red lines," Hassan Nasrallah said in his first televised appearance after the attacks, accusing it of trying to "kill no fewer than 5,000 people" in "a major and unprecedented ... blow" to the group.
Lebanon and Hezbollah have both blamed Israel for attacks on the group's communications equipment that has overwhelmed Lebanese hospitals and wreaked havoc on Hezbollah.
Israel has not directly commented on the attacks, which security sources say were probably carried out by its Mossad spy agency, which has a long history of carrying out attacks on foreign soil.
"There is no doubt that we have been subjected to a major security and military blow that is unprecedented in the history of the resistance and unprecedented in the history of Lebanon," Mr Nasrallah said.
"This type of killing, targeting and crime may be unprecedented in the world," he said.
The attacks "crossed all red lines. The enemy went beyond all controls, laws and morals," he said, adding the attacks "could be considered war crimes or a declaration of war."
As the broadcast was aired, deafening sonic booms from Israeli warplanes shook Beirut, a sound that has become common in recent months but has taken on a greater significance as the threat of all-out war has steadily ramped up.
Israel said its warplanes struck southern Lebanon overnight. Hezbollah reported that airstrikes resumed in the border area in the afternoon.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant claimed that Israel will keep up military action against Hezbollah.
"In the new phase of the war there are significant opportunities but also significant risks. Hezbollah feels that it is being persecuted and the sequence of military actions will continue," Mr Gallant said in a statement.
"Our goal is to ensure the safe return of Israel's northern communities to their homes. As time goes by, Hezbollah will pay an increasing price," he added.
Mr Nasrallah said Hezbollah hoped Israeli troops would enter southern Lebanon because that would create a "historic opportunity" for the Iran-backed group.
No military escalation, killing, assassinations or all-out war would return Israeli residents to the border area, he added.
Whilst Mr Nasrallah described the attacks as unprecedented, accusing Israel of trying to kill 5,000 people, he also played down the impact on Hezbollah, saying the group's structure had not been shaken.
"Yes, we received a big and harsh blow, but this is also the nature of war," Mr Nasrallah said.
"We know that our enemy has superiority on the technological level, and we have never said otherwise."
Israel will face "a crushing response from the axis of resistance", Iran's Revolutionary Guards Commander Hossein Salami told Mr Nasrallah, according to state media.
Speaking in Paris, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged restraint, adding he did not want to see any escalatory actions by any party that make a Gaza ceasefire deal even more difficult.
Two Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in Israel's north, the Israeli military said. Israel's N12 News said one of them was killed by a drone and the other by an anti-tank missile fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon.
The attacks on Hezbollah communications equipment sowed fear across Lebanon, with people abandoning electronic devices for fear of carrying bombs in their pockets.
Army destroys pagers in controlled blasts
Hezbollah's leader said thousands of pagers had been targeted simultaneously, with some of the explosions happening in hospitals, pharmacies, markets, shops and streets busy with civilians, women and children.
"With this operation, the enemy violated all laws and red lines," Mr Nasrallah said.
Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel on the day after the 7 October cross-border attack by Hamas which triggered Israel's Gaza war, and since then constant exchanges of fire have occurred.
Although neither side has allowed this to escalate into a full-scale war, it has led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from the border area on both sides.
"The Hezbollah terrorist organisation has turned southern Lebanon into a combat zone. For decades, Hezbollah has weaponized civilian homes, dug tunnels beneath them, and used civilians as human shields," Israel's military claimed.
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Hand-held radios used by Hezbollah detonated yesterday across Lebanon, killing 25 people and wounding hundreds.
The previous day, hundreds of pagers - used by Hezbollah to evade mobile phone surveillance - exploded at once, killing 12 people including at least two children, and injuring more than 2,300.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on the United Nations Security Council to take a firm stand to stop what he called Israel's "aggression" and "technological war".
Israel claims its conflict with Hezbollah, like its war in Gaza against Hamas, is part of a wider regional confrontation with Iran, which sponsors both groups as well as armed movements in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
Israeli security forces also claimed that an Israeli businessman had been arrested last month after attending at least two meetings in Iran where he discussed assassinating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the defence minister or the head of the Shin Bet spy agency.
Israel has been accused of assassinations including a blast in Tehran that killed the leader of Hamas and another in a Beirut suburb that killed a senior Hezbollah commander within hours of each other in July.
