Netanyahu says he approved deadly Lebanon pager attacks

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has confirmed that he has told his Cabinet that he approved the deadly September attack on Hezbollah communications devices that simultaneously exploded in Lebanon. 

Israeli media had earlier reported on Netanyahu's comments during a Cabinet meeting, also reporting that he had told ministers that he went ahead with the operation despite opposition from some senior defense officials and political figures. 

"Netanyahu confirmed Sunday that he greenlighted the pager operation in Lebanon," the prime minister's spokesman, Omer Dostri, told several news agencies.

It's the first direct and explicit acknowledgment of the Israeli government's involvement, although the attack's provenance had never been in serious doubt and several prominent Israeli politicians had seemed to obliquely indicate approval at the time. 

The pager attack, which was followed by a similar one targeting walkie-talkies that Hezbollah used as a backup communication method, killed 39 people and wounded more than 3,400, according to Lebanese officials.

The group had been using the rather outdated communication technology to evade Israeli location-tracking and espionage.

Fairly soon after, on September 27, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike on southern Beirut. Israel then launched ground operations in parts of the south of the country on October 1.