US Said to Be Blindsided by Israeli Operation in Lebanon, Raising Tensions
The United States is said to have been left in the dark about a major Israeli operation in Lebanon that resulted in hundreds of exploding pagers and at least 32 deaths, CNN reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Despite Israeli officials notifying the US about an upcoming operation in Lebanon, no details were provided, leaving US officials unaware of the nature of the attack until reports of the explosions began to emerge, the sources claim/
The operation, confirmed to be a joint effort between Israel’s intelligence service, the Mossad, and the Israeli military, has sparked outrage in Lebanon and heightened tensions in the region. The Lebanese government condemned the attack as “criminal Israeli aggression.”
The series of explosions, which began on Tuesday with exploding pagers and continued into Wednesday with detonations of walkie-talkies, resulted in at least 32 deaths and over 450 injuries, according to Lebanese health officials.
The timing of the attack, which occurred while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was traveling to Cairo, has raised concerns about regional escalation. Blinken, who was briefed on the situation while in-flight, said that the US “did not know about nor was it involved in these incidents.”
The US has expressed concern about the potential for further escalation and has conveyed via back channels that they were not involved in the attack and that Iran, whose ambassador to Lebanon was injured in the explosions, should not escalate.
Despite the lack of information about the operation prior to its execution, the US was notified by Israeli officials about a planned operation, according to sources. The vague nature of the notification, however, did not prepare US officials for the scale and impact of the attack, they add.
The operation comes amid a period of heightened tensions in the region. Israel has carried out numerous strikes in Lebanon in response to Hezbollah drone and missile launches, as well as targeted attacks against senior Hamas officials in Lebanon.
