Hassan Nasrallah due to give televised speech, as US warns all sides in Middle East against escalation ‘of any kind’
Middle East crisis – latest news updates
Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, will seek to rally his followers and inspire new defiance of Israel in a much-anticipated televised speech on Thursday afternoon, after the Lebanon-based militant Islamist organisation was thrown into disarray by successive waves of unprecedented attacks that have been blamed on Israel.
On Tuesday, thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah exploded simultaneously, killing 12 people, including two children, and wounding up to 2,800 others across Lebanon. A day later, 25 people were killed and more than 450 wounded when walkie-talkies exploded in supermarkets, on streets and at funerals, stoking fears that a full-blown war between Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, and Israel could be imminent.