Scores of Hezbollah members were killed and wounded in the September pager blasts [Getty]
The Lebanese group Hezbollah has said that some of its operatives who were wounded in Israel’s 17 September pager blasts are now fighting against Israeli forces in south Lebanon.
In a video published on Monday and titled “Despite Injury… Present on the Battlefield,” Hezbollah operatives who sustained eye and hand injuries as a result of the pager attacks appear to be taking part in the preparation of rockets and ammunition.
One Hezbollah fighter is first seen in hospital with his entire face bandaged, and an apparent arm amputation.
“We will fight until the last moment,” he says, “may God heal my only [remaining] eye and I will be the first one in the south”.
The video then shows a speech by late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, delivered after the pager attacks.
“You will find in front of you hundreds of those who were wounded [in the pager attacks] on Tuesday and Wednesday, because they are more determined to continue their resistance and fighting and killing of you,” Nasrallah says in the clip.
On 17 and 18 September, thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah operatives, believed to have been booby-trapped by Israel, exploded in Lebanon.
At least 39 people were killed, including children and other civilians as well as Hezbollah operatives, while over 3,400 were wounded.
The incident was described as the “biggest security breach” for Hezbollah in years of conflict with Israel.
A few days later, Israel dramatically escalated its attacks on Lebanon, turning a low-level conflict at the border into a full-scale war.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on 27 September and most of the group’s top leadership has also been eliminated by Israeli strikes.
The group’s fighters have met Israel’s ground invasion of south Lebanon with fierce resistance however, with around 48 Israeli soldiers killed so far.
Israel’s attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 3,768 people and forced over 1.3 million to flee their homes. The Israeli cabinet was expected to approve a truce deal on Tuesday but instead launched fierce strikes across Lebanon, hitting the capital Beirut and the southern city of Sidon.
