WASHINGTON, September 20. /TASS/. The operation attributed to Israel on mass detonation of communication devices in Lebanon inevitably brings the Middle East region to the brink of a large-scale conflict, The Washington Post said.

According to its columnist Ishaan Tharoor, "Israeli officials have not publicly taken responsibility for the attacks, but have in private in confirmed their hand in them with their interlocutors in Washington." The pager blasts were intended to undermine the combat capabilities of the Shia group Hezbollah, but the explosions killed dozens and injured thousands of Lebanese civilians, including children, the political analyst pointed out. It is still unclear what strategic goals the Israeli leadership pursued in the operation, Tharoor said.

In his opinion, "the sophistication of the strike raises profound questions about the future of cyberwarfare, the vulnerability of tech supply chains and the ethics behind such operations." UN human rights experts have accused Israel of "violating international law and carrying out a form of terrorism" the analyst added.

On September 17 and 18, a series of communication device explosions took place in Lebanon. On the first day, a large number of pagers exploded almost simultaneously in different parts of the country. According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, the explosions killed 12 people, including two children, and injured about 2,800 people.

The next day, radios, phones, and solar and lithium-ion battery-powered devices exploded in various parts of Lebanon. A second attack killed 25 people and injured 608.