REPORTER: “What’s the white House response to the exploding walkie-talkies in Lebanon today?” KIRBY: “What I can tell you is we were not involved in yesterday’s incidents or today’s in any way, and I don’t have anything more to share.”

NETANYHAU: “I already said it. We are going to return the residents of the North to their homes in safety. And this is exactly what we are doing”. (Makes no mention of two days of blowing up devices all over Lebanon, maiming THOUSANDS of Hezbollah terrorists.)

The Prime Minister’s Office, this evening (Wednesday, 18 September 2024) [translated from Hebrew]: The fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has acceded to every American proposal for releasing the hostages despite the ultimatum from elements in the coalition completely refutes the claim that he has torpedoed any deal whatsoever due to political considerations. On April 27th, the Prime Minister conveyed to the mediator a framework for releasing the hostages, which Secretary of State Blinken defined as being a very generous proposal. On May 31st, the Prime Minister agreed to the US proposal, and on August 16th, he agreed to the American “final bridging proposal.” On June 12th, Secretary of State Blinken said that Israel had agreed to the proposal while Hamas had not.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says Israel’s focus has moved to the northern front as a “new phase” of the war is beginning. Gallant made the comments while visiting the Ramat David airbase. Excerpts from the Minister’s remarks: “The ‘center of gravity’ is moving north, meaning that we are allocating forces, resources and energy for the northern arena.

According to Lebanon’s health ministry, nine individuals have lost their lives and over 300 others have sustained injuries following a series of walkie-talkie explosions that occurred throughout the country this afternoon.

Air France, the Lufthansa Group, and British Airways have all suspended flights to Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv until at least September 19th. The airlines are likely anticipating a potential Hezbollah response after close to 4,000 Hezbollah terrorists were injured in a series of pager blasts in Lebanon and Syria. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The Chief of the General Staff, LTG Herzi Halevi, held a situational assessment this evening (Tuesday), with the participation of the General Staff Forum, focusing on readiness in both offense and defense in all arenas. The IDF Spokesperson clarifies that at this time, there is no change to the Home Front Command defensive guidelines. The public is asked to remain alert and vigilant, and any change in policy will be updated immediately.

The State Department says the United States was not involved in the pager explosions in Lebanon and is still gathering information about the incident.

The number of injured in Lebanon stands at 3600 and continues to rise, close to 400 /seriously critically injured

The rebel group’s spokesman Mohammed Abdelsalam called the attack “a heinous crime and a violation of Lebanese sovereignty.” “Our condolences and sympathy go to the families of the martyrs in the valiant Islamic resistance, asking God Almighty to have mercy and forgiveness for them, and to grant a speedy recovery to the wounded,” Abdelsalam said in a post on X. “We are certain that Lebanon is capable of facing all challenges, and has a resistance movement capable of deterring the Zionist enemy entity and making it pay a heavy price for any escalation it may undertake against Lebanon.”