The Israeli government had “no connection” to widespread pager attacks that left dozens of people dead and thousands injured in Lebanon, the Israeli president said in a Sunday interview.
In an interview with Sky News, Israeli President Isaac Herzog denied claims made by Iran and the Hezbollah terrorist group that Israel was behind the widespread attacks carried out via exploding pagers and walkie-talkies that left dozens dead and thousands injured.
“First of all, I reject out of hand any connection to this or that source of operation,” Herzog responded to a reporter’s question about whether Israel was involved.
Two waves of explosions erupted across Lebanon last week, reportedly targeting members of Hezbollah, which runs Lebanon’s government.
In the first attack, which primarily impacted pagers, some 12 people died and thousands were injured, officials said. In the second, 25 people died and 600 were injured.
During his Sky News interview, Herzog sought to focus on actions that were carried out by Hezbollah earlier this summer. The group is accused of launching a rocket at a civilian area in the Golan Heights, leaving 12 children dead, which prompted separate counter-strikes against Hezbollah inside Lebanon.
“All I would say is that just at the opening of the Olympic Games 12 Israeli children of the Druze religion were murdered by a terrible missile attack, a rocket attack by Hezbollah in Majdal Shams where they were playing football,” Herzog said. “There are terrible tragedies in this war and we never want to get there, but we have the inherent right to defend ourselves and the fact is that houses have been demolished, Israelis were killed, Muslims, Christians, Druze, and Jews all in the northern part of Israel where they live peacefully.”
He added that those people have been “evacuated from their home for a year” because of Hezbollah.
