LONDON, September 24. /TASS/. The United States opposes a possible invasion of Lebanon by the Israeli army and intends to promote specific ideas to reduce tensions in the Middle East, Reuters reported citing an unnamed US State Department official.
"We obviously do not believe that a ground invasion of Lebanon is going to contribute to reducing tensions in the region," the official said. He said Washington disagrees with Israel's position and intends to discuss specific ideas with its allies to prevent an escalation of the conflict with the Shiite Hezbollah movement. "I can't recall, at least in recent memory, a period in which an escalation or intensification led to a fundamental de- escalation and led to profound stabilization of the situation," the official added.
On September 22, The Economist reported that the Israeli military command was preparing a ground operation in northern Lebanon that would involve seizing territory to create a buffer zone.
Multiple explosions of communication devices occurred in Lebanon on September 17 and 18. On the first day, a large number of pagers blew up almost simultaneously in various regions of the country. According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, 12 people, including two children, were killed, and over 2,000 more suffered injuries. On the following day, a new wave of blasts swept across Lebanon. This time, walkie-talkies, phones, fingerprint scanners, as well as devices operating on solar and lithium-ion batteries exploded. At least 25 were killed and 608 were injured in the attack.
Hezbollah blamed the explosions on Israel, with the movement’s leader Hassan Nasrallah stating that it was in fact a declaration of war.