The port blast killed more than 200 people and injured thousands. The synchronized explosion of devices used by Hezbollah was widely believed to have been carried out by Israel.

One Hezbollah official said the episode was the biggest security breach in the group's history. The operations, which appeared to throw Hezbollah into disarray, played out alongside Israel's 11-month-old war in Gaza and heightened fears of an escalation on its Lebanese border and the risk of a full-blown regional war.