Live updates: Israel says it has plans to strike Lebanon, hours after walkie talkie explosions injure hundreds

Then why do almost all Western countries consider Hezbollah a terrorist organization?

And obviously it becomes a war only when we (the collective West) label it as such, otherwise it's still just terrorists. They become soldiers only when it's convenient for us.

What a load of ghoulish warmongering. Oh it's war? If Hezbollah had done this to Israelis, the world would be crying blood and vowing for Israel's right to defend itself.

it's just far more targeted at Hezbollah members since it's their electronics.

We need to wait for the numbers before we can say either way, but I certainly doubt it. The EU foreign policy chief has already condemned the attack as indiscriminate.

So kill their families right?

There is an old saying that a terrorist is someone who has a bomb, but not an airforce to drop it.

This definitely feels like terrorist attack tactics, since it does more to cause fear than actually fatalities. You make some really good points though, it's unfortunate that you're getting so many downvotes for factual information.

As for the terrorist group designation, you can see a list of all countries and entities that consider Hezbollah a terrorist group here.. It does include both the European Union and the United States, along with many other countries. There are some countries that don't consider them a terrorist group, notably Russia, China, and North Korea.

And while in war, there are prohibitions on targeting non-combatants, they don't require that there be no collateral damage. Israel's pretty clearly targeting Hezbollah here, not random Lebanese.

I do wonder if Hezbollah can maybe agree to stay out of part of Lebanon. I don't think that that'd need to compromise either Israel's or Hezbollah's war plans, so maybe it'd be possible to come to some sort of agreement like that; you'd need buy-in from both parties. Then that area could be used as a safe area for Lebanese non-combatants.