Israel has for the first time confirmed that it was behind the operation in September to detonate hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday accepted that he had "okayed" the pager attacks in Lebanon, which had killed nearly 40 Iran-backed Hezbollah members in September.

On September 17, pagers started detonating in Lebanon and Syria sending Hezbollah into confusion. A day later, the walkie-talkies exploded in a similar way during the funeral of those who died in a pager attack.