Israel's War Cabinet Greenlights Offensive War Against Hezbollah, Sends Elite Brigade North

Update(1544): As many suspected and feared, this deadly two-day Israeli covert operation to blow up Hezbollah pagers, walkie-talkies, and small electronic devices was but preparation for a likely Israeli military ground operation in southern Lebanon. It appears war is here. According to breaking news wires:

Israeli cabinet has given PM Netanyahu and Defence Minister Gallant the authorization to undertake military action against Hezbollah -- even if it leads to an all-out war.

So far the second day of explosions across Beirut and Lebanon have led to 20 killed and 450 wounded, but the casualty toll could be much higher.

Defense Minister Gallant has also declared a "new phase" of operations against Hezbollah along northern Israel:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, IDF chief Herzi Halevi and other officials all issued statements Wednesday evening which appeared to suggest a full-on war with Hezbollah was brewing, hours after a wave of explosions of walkie-talkies and other communications devices used by Hezbollah members across Lebanon caused widespread casualties, echoing a similar attack a day earlier that targeted Hezbollah-issued pagers.

The IDF also announced Wednesday that it was redeploying its 98th Division to northern Israel, after months of operations in the Gaza Strip under the Southern Command.

Israel has further just ordered an elite brigade to the north:

The Israeli army announced it’s transferring the 98th Division from the Gaza Strip to the northern border with Lebanon as tensions continue to escalate.

With about 10,000-20,000 soldiers, the paratroopers and commandos will now join the 36th Division under the Northern Command.

The attacks in Lebanon have impacted a wide array of small electronic devices far beyond just pagers...

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Axios and regional media are reporting a new wave of blasts in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, including explosions in the south of the country.

Israel has reportedly detonated hand-held personal radios used by Hezbollah members, the emerging reports say. The prominent regional news source War Monitor writes "Communications devices that exploded across Lebanon moments ago are hand-held radios, different to pagers that exploded on Tuesday, Security sources informed me."

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV is also confirming wireless devices exploded in the hands of those carrying them in several Lebanese areas. There are reports of at least nine new fatalities and over 300 injured in this second day of explosions. 

Several ambulances have been witnessed rushing to the scenes of multiple new blasts. It appears the Israeli covert operation to sow chaos within Hezbollah's ranks is not over.

This comes after the group said it would be checking and inspecting all externally shipped-in electronic devices, considering it's clear at this point the pagers were manipulated by Israeli intelligence.

Ironically, Hezbollah relied on encrypted pagers in the first place because older tech was considered immune from Israeli intercepts. Governments and intelligence services can more easily sweep up cell communications. However, it has become clear that Israel has deeply penetrated Hezbollah telecoms in a very direct way:

Jody Westby of Global Cyber Risk says Hezbollah relied on “old technology” because it thought it would make its members’ lines of communication more secure.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Washington, DC, Westby said Hezbollah used the pagers because they are more difficult to intercept and it is harder to trace the communications passed through them.

“This is digital warfare. What they did was take out a line of communication for Hezbollah. Clearly, it was planted, planned and it was effective. I wouldn’t call it a weapon of mass destruction. I would just call it an autonomous weapon, an executed military action,” she said.

Axios' Barak Ravid is reporting Wednesday, "Israel blew up thousands of personal radios (Walkie-Talkies) which were used by Hezbollah members in Lebanon in a second wave of its intelligence operation which started on Tuesday with the explosions of Hezbollah pager devices, per two sources with knowledge."

Below are more eyewitness reports from Al Jazeera correspondents on the ground in south Beirut:

We can confirm that there was at least one explosion in Dahiya neighborhood in the southern suburbs of Beirut. We’re at Hamra, which is sometimes referred to as the hospital area – there are three hospitals very close to each other.

Now we are hearing a lot of ambulance activity in the area suggesting there may be well casualties coming here or other hospitals nearby,  possibly as a result of explosions within Beirut itself.

A car bomb has also reportedly gone off in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre.

Yaroslav Trofimov writes pretty much what everyone is thinking: "Blow up pagers, force the surviving Hezbollah cadres to rely on walkie talkies, and then blow up the much bigger explosive devices inside the walkie talkies. A TV spy series producers would rule out this twist plot as impossible to believe in."

War correspondent Elijah Magnier says this appears a prelude to a major Israeli military operation in Lebanon: "Normally in every war, the first attack is on a command-control base, and here the Israelis are attacking the control, which is the communication. Crippling communication is vital in any war because it is the main spine of the [enemy] army."

Meanwhile, UN and other international/western entities are reportedly coming under attack on suspicion of spying on behalf of Israel...

developing...