WASHINGTON, September 18. /TASS/. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called his US counterpart Lloyd Austin minutes before the start of pager explosions in Lebanon, Axios news outlet reported citing an American official.
According to the official, Gallant told Austin during the call that Israel was planning to carry out an operation in Lebanon, but did not provide details. According to the source, Gallant’s call was an attempt to evade the situation when the US is completely unaware of the situation in the Middle East.
CNN also reported, citing two Pentagon sources, that Austin and Gallant had two telephone conversations on September 17. At the same time, CNN pointed out that two calls in one day is not a typical situation, which proves that Washington takes the situation in Lebanon very seriously.
Earlier, Axios reported that Austin plans to visit Israel on September 22-23 to discuss the situation in the Middle East following a series of pager explosions in Lebanon.
Previously, CNN pointed out that the explosions in Lebanon were the result of a joint operation by Israeli intelligence and servicemen.
On September 17, many pagers exploded practically simultaneously in several districts of Lebanon. According to the country’s Health Ministry, many people were injured and some died as a result of the incident. Hezbollah, Lebanon’s Shiite military group, blamed Israel for the explosions and promised “a just response.” According to one version, the incident was the result of a cyberattack, while another said that the pagers were brought into Lebanon this spring for Hezbollah supporters with explosives built in.