Israel is suspected of a major attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon, involving exploding pagers which are said to have injured 2,750 people in the country.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the devices were part of a recent shipment to Lebanon and appear to have been rigged to detonate at the same time.

Here we explain why Israel is suspected of carrying out the attack, and the wider context of its conflict with Hezbollah.

Who is behind the pager attack?

Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but Hezbollah has asserted it was to blame.

It may be the that Israel never formally admits the attack. It is already strongly suspected of being behind the recent killing of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas political chief assassinated in Tehran shortly after meeting Iranian officials.

Israel generally has a policy of not commenting on attacks or assassinations carried out overseas, though its leaders do sometimes allude to them.

Who are Hezbollah?

Hezbollah is the armed Lebanese group which has been attacking Israel in solidarity with Hamas, following the Oct 7 massacre which prompted Israel to launch a full-scale invasion of Gaza.

The group is strongly backed by Iran and designated a terrorist organisation by much of the West. It wields vast political power in Lebanon, and has military control over the south of the country.

Why is Israel attacking Lebanon?

Israel has been exchanging blows with Hezbollah since Oct 7. The Lebanese group has been firing large numbers of missiles at northern Israel, where border communities have been evacuated.

Hezbollah says it is attacking Israel directly in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza, where tens of thousands have been killed by Israeli air strikes and ground forces. It also says it is responding to Israeli attacks on its forces in southern Lebanon.

What happens next?

After the pager attack, Hezbollah said it was at its highest levels of readiness.

“We affirm that the resistance, at all its levels and various units, is at the highest level of readiness to defend Lebanon and its steadfast people,” a spokesman for Hezbollah said.

It is very difficult to predict whether this attack will lead to full-scale war between Israel and Lebanon, which would be catastrophic for the region.

Hezbollah is a far stronger fighting force than Hamas, having been closely trained and equipped by Iran with many powerful long-range missiles.

If it was indeed carried out by Israel, the attack may have been a prelude to a larger-scale operation, or an invasion of southern Lebanon, something that some Israeli commanders desire so they can restore stability to their communities near the border.

It may also have been an attempt to deter Hezbollah from further escalation, by showing its forces what Israel is capable of doing.

Or it may simply have been retaliation for what Israel has claimed was a recent plot by Hezbollah to kill a former Israeli official with a remote bomb.