Israel said it struck hundreds of targets in Lebanon, hours after Hezbollah’s leader vowed to retaliate for two “unprecedented” rounds of attacks targeting its operatives’ communication devices. Israel has not commented on the explosion of thousands of Hezbollah pagers and radios,

The immediate context for the attacks is the “low-intensity war” between Israel and Hezbollah since October 7, with the cycle of violence triggered by Hamas’s mass killings inside Israel and then the Israeli military operations killing more than 41,000 people in Gaza.

Hezbollah pounded northern Israel with 140 rockets Friday, a day after the militant group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed to retaliate against Israel for a mass bombing attack, the Israeli military and the militant group said.