Hezbollah fighters ambushed an Israeli patrol in 2006 and took two Israeli soldiers hostage. Hezbollah and Israel fought a monthlong war that ended in a draw but Israeli bombardment wreaked widespread destruction in southern Lebanon.

Iran is treating scores of people wounded in pager and walkie-talkie explosions in Lebanon that targeted its key ally Hezbollah.

Israel has yet to respond to the allegations that it was behind the pager explosion attacks, which have been linked to its Mossad spy agency.

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.

"God is almighty and avenging," Masoud Pezeshkian said, following the attacks with electronic devices that killed dozens and wounded thousands.

For Hizbollah the strike is a humiliation, while some Israelis see it as a prelude to a wider offensive in Lebanon

Israel will face "a crushing response from the axis of resistance", Iran's Revolutionary Guards Commander Hossein Salami told Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday according to state media, after attacks on Lebanese Hezbollah's communication devices.