IDF Blames Hezbollah for Lebanon Blast as Riyadh and Tehran Talk

Lebanon initially blamed Israel, then walked back; Saudi-Iranian phone call signals diplomatic channel.

IDF Blames Hezbollah for Lebanon Blast as Riyadh and Tehran Talk — On Sunday, the IDF confirmed that an explosive device that wounded five Lebanese soldiers in the Kfara area was deployed by Hezbollah, not an Israeli strike[^1]. Hours earlier, the Lebanese Armed Forces had blamed a "hostile Israeli strike" in the Kafr Kila area; by day's end, Lebanon's military walked back the claim, calling it a "suspicious object."[^1] The sequence — accusation, retraction, counter-attribution — leaves the incident's authorship contested, even as the IDF's statement offers a rare public pinpointing of Hezbollah in a border zone where both sides routinely trade blame. Separately, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan spoke by phone with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi, a channel that runs parallel to the US-Iran naval tensions off Oman, where a tanker master reported hearing an explosion 20 nautical miles northeast of Khasab[^2][^3]. The call, reported without detail, suggests Riyadh is keeping a diplomatic lane open even as Washington enforces its naval blockade and Israeli analysts warn of a regional nuclear race if the US grants Mohammed bin Salman a bilateral agreement without conditions[^4]. The Lebanon episode and the Saudi-Iran contact share a pattern: public narratives are unstable, and the most consequential moves are happening in channels that are only partially visible. The IDF's attribution may be accurate, but the Lebanese military's swift retraction underlines how quickly facts get renegotiated at the border. Whether Hezbollah's alleged device was a deliberate provocation or an accident remains unclear — and the silence from both Beirut and Tehran on the call's substance leaves the diplomatic track's purpose open to interpretation. Beersheba joins gun reform as comptroller probe deepens — National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced on Sunday that Beersheba residents are now eligible to apply for personal firearm licenses, extending his firearms reform to the Negev's largest city. "A weapon in the right hands saves lives," he said, adding, "I am proud to continue the firearms revolution and expand it to the capital of the Negev as well." [^1]