TEL AVIV, November 11. /TASS/. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the September operation to detonate explosive-laden pagers belonging to fighters of the Shiite organization Hezbollah in Lebanon, a source in the Israeli PM’s office told a TASS correspondent on Monday.
When asked about the operation, the source told TASS: "I confirm it."
The Ynet portal reported on November 10 that Israeli PM Netanyahu confirmed on that day at the weekly Israeli Cabinet meeting that he had approved the elimination of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrullah, and also greenlighted the operation to detonate pagers belonging to the Shiite organization's fighters in Lebanon.
An Israeli government source told TASS on Monday that Netanyahu said speaking at a weekly Cabinet meeting, which was attended by newly-appointed Defense Minister Israel Katz and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on November 10, that there had previously been "a dispute over whether to conduct the pager operation."
"I was advised to seek US authorization. I demanded that we push forward with the operation," the source quoted the Israeli prime minister as saying in an interview with TASS.
Netanyahu also revealed during the meeting that there was "some resistance in the government regarding the elimination of Nasrullah because there were those who again wanted US approval, just as in the situation with the pager operation," the source stated.
The Israeli prime minister informed the ministers that he "refused to announce the operation in advance" and "approved the operation [to eliminate Nasrullah] from New York," where he was attending the UN General Assembly session, the agency’s source added.
On September 17 and 18, waves of exploding electronic devices swept across Lebanon. On September 17, a large number of handheld pagers detonated almost simultaneously in different parts of the country. On the following day, radios, phones, as well as devices operating on solar panels and lithium-ion batteries exploded in several areas of Lebanon. According to the country’s Health Ministry, the incidents killed 37 people and wounded over 3,000 people.
On September 23, Israel launched a military operation codenamed Northern Arrows against Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, to carry out massive strikes on the organization's military facilities.
The declared aim is to create safe conditions in the northern border areas of the Jewish state so that tens of thousands of residents can return there. As a result of one of the Israeli strikes, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrullah was killed in Beirut on September 27. On October 1, the Israeli army announced a ground operation in border areas in southern Lebanon.