Israel bombed southern Lebanon on Thursday and said it had thwarted an Iranian-led assassination plot after explosions in booby-trapped radios and pagers in the past two days caused bloody havoc in the ranks of its arch-foe Hezbollah.

As the broadcast was aired, deafening sonic booms from Israeli warplanes shook Beirut, a sound that has become common in recent months but has taken on a greater significance as t

The Israeli Air Force launched renewed attacks on Lebanon on Thursday, as tensions run high following the waves of coordinated blasts involving Lebanese electronic devices widely attributed to Israel.

One Hezbollah official said the episode was the biggest security breach in the group's history. The operations, which appeared to throw Hezbollah into disarray, played out alongside Israel's 11-month-old war in Gaza and heightened fears of an escalation on its Lebanese border and the risk of a full-blown regional war.

BEIRUT >> Hand-held radios used by Hezbollah detonated today across Lebanon’s south and in Beirut suburbs, further stoking tensions with Israel a day after similar explosions were launched via the group’s pagers.

Israeli warplanes struck dozens of targets across south Lebanon Thursday and conducted a raid on the town of al-Haniyeh, which it claims was targeting Hezbollah missiles and infrastructure.