Israeli President Isaac Herzog has made several comments on Israel's alleged involvement in a series of pager and walkie-talkie explosions in Lebanon last week.
President Herzog made the comments in a conversation with Sky News' Trevor Phillips on September 22, when the host questioned the president about the nature of the attacks that killed at least 37 people, including two children, and injured about 3,000 in explosions of communications equipment in Lebanon.
Asked whether Israel would outright deny involvement or blame any other party for the attacks, President Herzog did not answer directly, only accusing Hezbollah of "destroying Lebanon" from the start.
"I'm not implying anything except to say that there are many enemies of Hezbollah out there, quite a few enemies in this day and age. Hezbollah has strangled Lebanon, destroyed Lebanon, caused chaos in Lebanon over and over again. We Israelis only defend ourselves. That's all we do," Herzog said.
Israeli intelligence is suspected of being behind the attacks, which have been widely criticized globally.
UN human rights commissioner Volker Turk called the incident "shocking" and said it had caused "deep fear and terror".
“The simultaneous targeting of thousands of individuals, whether civilians or members of armed groups, without knowing who owns the targeted devices, their location and their surroundings at the time of the attack, is a violation of international human rights law and, to the extent applicable, international humanitarian law,” Volker Turk said.
