Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Egypt for fresh talks on an Israel-Hamas cease-fire, as tensions with Hezbollah persist at the Israel-Lebanon border in the wake of the shocking explosions of wireless devices.

WASHINGTON -- Israel warned U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a call Tuesday that a military operation was going to take place in Lebanon but gave no details, U.S. officials said Thursday. The same day of the call, in an attack widely blamed on Israel, thousands of pagers belonging to Hezbollah militants exploded.

BEIRUT, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Militant group Hezbollah promised to retaliate against Israel after accusing it of detonating pagers across Lebanon on Tuesday, killing nine people and wounding nearly 3,000 others who included fighters and Iran's envoy to Beirut.