The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah is promising to retaliate for deadly attacks on its communication devices after Israel's defense minister announced a “new phase” of the war. Hezbollah and the Israeli military traded new strikes over the border on Thursday.

Khaled Meshal, one of Hamas’s most senior officials, said in an interview that the militant group expects to play a decisive role in the enclave when the war is over.

Hundreds of handheld pagers have exploded almost simultaneously across Lebanon and in parts of Syria, killing at least nine people, government and Hezbollah officials say