Even before Tuesday’s exploding pager attack on Hezbollah, war seemed to be looming on the Israel-Lebanon border. Benjamin Netanyahu began the week promising to return 60,000 evacuees to the north of the country.

The Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah said that Abu Haidar al-Khafaji was killed in a “Zionist assault” at dawn in Damascus. Khafaji had been working as a security advisor in the area, the group said in a statement on Telegram.

Hundreds of handheld pagers exploded in Lebanon and parts of Syria on Tuesday, killing several people, including members of the militant group Hezbollah, and wounding thousands, officials said. Hezbollah and government officials are saying Israel is responsible for the attack,