Tel Aviv, Israel:

In Israel’s first reaction since thousands of blasts rocked Lebanon over two days, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s defence minister has announced that the “centre of gravity” of the Middle East conflict is “moving north”.

In a brief video statement, Mr Netanyahu also promised that tens of thousands of residents from Israel’s northern border with Lebanon will “return to their homes”.

Lebanon’s militant outfit Hezbollah has been backing Hamas in the Gaza war shortly after it began in October 2023 and regular exchange of fire between Hezbollah militia and Israel’s armed forces have been going on for the last many months, however tensions have surges since Tuesday’s pager explosions across Lebanon which killed twelve and injured nearly 3,000 people, mostly linked with Hezbollah.

Hezbollah has blamed Israel for what it calls their “biggest-ever” security breach. Mr Netanyahu, however, didn’t speak directly about the explosions that have rocked Lebanon.

Less than twenty-four hours since thousands of pagers blew up across Lebanon, hand-held walkie-talkies have today exploded killing another nine people and wounding over 300.

During his statement Mr Netanyahu said, “I have said it before, we will return to the citizens of the north to their homes in security and that’s exactly what we are going to do.”

To this, Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant added that “forces are being sent to the northern border.” Israel has said that the war has now “moved into a new phase”, amid concerns that a new front to the war may soon see escalation.

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

While the Gaza strip is on Israel’s south-western front, Lebanon shares a border with Israel’s north.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned against any escallation of the war in the Middle East.