The Israeli government had “no connection” to widespread pager attacks that left dozens of people dead and thousands injured in Lebanon, the Israeli president said in a Sunday interview.
In an interview with Sky News, Israeli President Isaac Herzog denied claims made by Iran and the Hezbollah terrorist group that Israel was behind the widespread attacks carried out via exploding pagers and walkie-talkies that left dozens dead and thousands injured.
“First of all, I reject out of hand any connection to this or that source of operation,” Herzog responded to a reporter’s question about whether Israel was involved.
Two waves of explosions erupted across Lebanon last week, reportedly targeting members of Hezbollah, which runs Lebanon’s government.
In the first attack, which primarily impacted pagers, some 12 people died and thousands were injured, officials said. In the second, 25 people died and 600 were injured.
During his Sky News interview, Herzog sought to focus on actions that were carried out by Hezbollah earlier this summer. The group is accused of launching a rocket at a civilian area in the Golan Heights, leaving 12 children dead, which prompted separate counter-strikes against Hezbollah inside Lebanon.
“All I would say is that just at the opening of the Olympic Games 12 Israeli children of the Druze religion were murdered by a terrible missile attack, a rocket attack by Hezbollah in Majdal Shams where they were playing football,” Herzog said. “There are terrible tragedies in this war and we never want to get there, but we have the inherent right to defend ourselves and the fact is that houses have been demolished, Israelis were killed, Muslims, Christians, Druze, and Jews all in the northern part of Israel where they live peacefully.”
He added that those people have been “evacuated from their home for a year” because of Hezbollah.
The leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said Thursday in a televised address that that both Lebanon and Syria, which also experienced pager explosions, suffered a “severe blow” and that Israel crossed a “red line.” He also called the attacks a “declaration of war” by Israel.
He vowed that Hezbollah will keep going on with its attacks along the border with Israel as long as the war in Gaza continues.
Iran, which has long backed Hezbollah, claimed that one of its diplomats was killed in the mass pager explosions, according to statements issued via state-run media. Iranian state media outlet Press TV also carried remarks by Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general, Sheikh Naim Qassem, who said Sunday that the group has entered a “new phase” and called for an “open-ended battle” with Israel after the attacks.
Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said Wednesday it had authorized use of its brand on the AR-924 pager model—but that a Budapest, Hungary-based company called BAC Consulting KFT produced and sold the pagers.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs said that it had no records of direct exports of Gold Apollo pagers to Lebanon. And a Hungarian government spokesman later added that the pager devices had never been in Hungary, either, noting that BAC had merely acted as an intermediary.
Speculation around the origin of the devices that exploded Wednesday has also emerged. A sales executive at the U.S. subsidiary of Japanese walkie-talkie maker Icom said last week that the exploded radio devices in Lebanon appear to be a knock-off product and not made by Icom.
“I can guarantee you they were not our products,” said Ray Novak, a senior sales manager for Icom’s amateur radio division, in an interview Wednesday at a trade show in Providence, Rhode Island.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times