Because of this week’s pager and walkie-talkie attacks, Hezbollah is saying it is now in a state of war with Israel. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has said that the attack was a “massacre” and widely attributed to Israel’s Mossad, as “a declaration of war.”

Thousands of pagers – a low-tech and supposedly secure method of communication used by Hezbollah members – simultaneously detonated across Lebanon on Tuesday, killing a dozen people and injuring 3,000 more. A second wave of explosions took place on Wednesday, this time affecting handheld radios. As of Thursday, a total of 37 people had been killed, including at least two children, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. -RT

”This is sheer terrorism. We’ll call them Tuesday’s massacre and Wednesday’s massacre. These are war crimes or at least a declaration of war,” Nasrallah said. Noting that some of the devices had detonated in schools, hospitals, and residential buildings, the Hezbollah chief said the operation had crossed “all restrictions and red lines.”

The question now, is will Hezbollah sit back and refuse to retaliate after a red-line crossing like Russia has? Or will they choose to ignite a broader conflict and possibly global war in the Middle East?

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“There is no doubt that we suffered a major security and humanitarian blow, unprecedented in the history of our resistance,” he conceded. “We have been hit hard, but this is the state of war, and we understand that the enemy has technological superiority.”

Israel Has Declared A “New Phase” Of War

Israel has still not claimed responsibility for the attacks, but American, Israeli, and Lebanese sources claim that Israel’s Mossad was behind the “massacre.”

American officials told Axios on Wednesday that Mossad had intended to trigger the pagers as the first blow in an all-out war with Hezbollah, but decided to detonate them early in case Hezbollah discovered the plot. -RT

Does that mean World War III is only days away from igniting? Perhaps. It could also mean that Lebanon and Hezbollah have no means of retaliation and that things will continue, violent as they have been, without much escalation. It’s difficult to tell where this is going, but there does seem to be at least a moderate amount of anger in the Middle East over these pager explosions.