BEIRUT: Israel bombed Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon on Thursday, piling pressure on the militant group after two waves of explosions targeted its communications systems, killing 37 people.
Israel has not commented on the attacks in which Hezbollah operatives' pagers and walkie-talkies exploded in supermarkets, on streets and at funerals.
The Iran-backed group has accused Israel of staging the unprecedented attacks, and its leader Hassan Nasrallah is scheduled to deliver a speech later Thursday that will be closely monitored for any indication of how the group plans to respond.
The device explosions, involving pagers and walkie-talkies, killed 37 people across two days, including two children, and wounded more than 2,900 others, according to Lebanon's health minister.
Israel's defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said on Wednesday, in reference to his country's border with Lebanon: "The centre of gravity is moving northward." "We are at the start of a new phase in the war," he warned.
For nearly a year, the focus of Israel's firepower has been on Gaza, which is ruled by Hamas. But its troops have also been engaged in near-daily clashes with Hezbollah militants along its northern border, killing hundreds in Lebanon, most of them fighters, and dozens in Israel.
The exchanges of fire have forced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border to flee their homes.
On Thursday, the Israeli military said it struck six Hezbollah "infrastructure sites" and a weapons storage facility overnight in southern Lebanon, a stronghold of the militant group. Lebanon's National News Agency also reported Israeli strikes and shelling on several towns in the south.
Rattled by the attacks that targeted its communication system, Hezbollah said Israel was "fully responsible for this criminal aggression" and vowed revenge.
On Thursday it said 25 of its members had been killed in the explosions, with a source close to the group saying at least 20 had died when their walkie-talkies detonated.
