ISRAEL has bombed hundreds of targets just hours after Hezbollah’s leader vowed revenge for the sabotage attack that left 37 dead.
The overnight bombing comes after exploding pagers and walkie-talkies, sabotaged by Mossad spies, targeted Hezbollah terrorists in two surprise attacks.
IDFIsrael released footage of it bombing the Hezbollah targets in Lebanon[/caption]
ReutersAn Israeli fighter jet takes off to strike Lebanon last night[/caption]
One man’s bag exploded after a pager detonated while he was shopping
The Israeli military blitzed 52 strikes across southern Lebanon in the attack, Lebanon’s state news agency NNA said.
Israel claimed to have destroyed 100 rocket launchers and around 1,000 launch barrels in the strikes.
Black and white footage posted to social media showed the country blowing up targets.
The IDF said: “The IDF continues to damage and degrade the terror capabilities and military infrastructure of the Hezbollah terror organization.”
Israel also hit the south of the country in earlier strikes as it shifts its war away from Gaza and towards its northern neighbour.
The Israeli military said on Thursday it struck six Hezbollah “terrorist infrastructure sites” and a weapons storage facility in southern Lebanon overnight, as fears grew of a full-blown war.
Iran-backed Hezbollah meanwhile said it launched at least 17 attacks on military sites in northern Israel.
Yesterday Hezbollah kingpin Hassan Nasrallah issued a call to arms after the hack attacks left 37 dead, 3,600 maimed and wounded, and his fighting force in chaos.
Speaking for the first time since the deadly device sabotage, Nasrallah vowed Israel would face retribution.
Nasrallah said Israel would face “tough retribution and just punishment, where it expects it and where it does not” and described the attacks as a “massacre” and a possible “act of war”.
Sky’s foreign correspondent John Sparks was reporting live following the speech when a large blast was heard and sonic booms shook Beirut.
Tens of thousands of people have had to flee the border area between the two countries.
Hezbollah have killed 26 civilians and 20 soldiers and forced 80,000 Israelis to flee south to escape the blitz, which has damaged nearly 1,000 homes within six miles of the border.
Netanyahu vowed on Wednesday to return the evacuated Israelis “securely to their homes”.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant declared the start of a “new phase” of war as the country’s army moved north.
The announcement paves the way for the first full-scale invasion of southern Lebanon since 2006 in a drive to push back the terror group and allow Israelis to return home.
But the risky move raises the spectre of Hezbollah backers, Iran being drawn into a devastating regional conflict.
Israel yesterday also released video of it bombing Hezbollah targets
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