DEEP DIVE — Exploding beepers and walkie-talkies have killed and maimed Hezbollah operatives, air strikes have taken out top commanders, and hundreds of aerial bombardments have destroyed missile launch sites belonging to the militant group. In a single week, Israel has dealt a punishing blow to Hezbollah, the Iranian-financed Shia army that controls southern Lebanon and that has, since the day after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas in Gaza, regularly bombarded Israel’s northern border regions.
The Israeli airstrikes have hit hundreds of targets, demolishing medium-range rockets, cruise missiles and drones, and workshops where Hezbollah was said to add precision guidance systems to its homemade missiles. Those exploding beepers and walkie-talkies killed at least 37 people, mostly Hezbollah members, and left nearly 300 Hezbollah officials, as well as Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, seriously injured, the Lebanese Health Ministry said. Israel claimed to have killed 10 Hezbollah commanders in a single airstrike, including the leader of the Radwan force, Hezbollah’s special foorces unit.
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