Israel focusing war efforts on Lebanese border

More forces are being sent to Israel’s northern border, as the war with Hezbollah moves into a new phase after Tuesday’s pagers explosions, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said.

“The ‘centre of gravity’ is moving north, meaning that we are allocating forces, resources and energy for the northern arena,” he said in remarks released by his office.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Wednesday to return tens of thousands of residents evacuated from northern border areas to their homes.

“We will return the residents of the north securely to their homes,” he said in a brief video statement, giving no further details.

In the statement, Netanyahu made no mention of the operation that remotely detonated thousands of pagers and hand-held radio devices used by operatives of Hezbollah on Tuesday, which killed 12 people and wounded 12,750.