The leader of Hezbollah vowed to retaliate for this week's deadly attacks on the group's communications devices. Israel and Hezbollah exchanged strikes on Thursday as he spoke. Nasrallah called the attacks on Hezbollah's devices a "severe blow" that crossed a "red line." Lebanon is still reeling from this week's attacks on electronic devices used by Hezbollah. Hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies blew up at the same time in an operation widely believed to be carried out by Israel. At least 37 people were killed, including two children, and some 3,000 others were wounded. Israel's defense minister said Hezbollah will pay an 'increasing price' as Israel seeks to return residents to homes near the Lebanon border.

Officials in Pakistan say gunmen in the restive southwest have killed at least 38 people in three separate attacks in one of the deadliest days of violence in Baluchistan province. Twenty-three people were fatally shot on Monday morning after being taken from buses, vehicles and trucks in Musakhail, a district in Baluchistan. Police say the attackers burned at least 10 vehicles before fleeing. In a separate attack, gunmen killed at least nine people, including four police officers and five passersby, in Qalat district. Six people were killed elsewhere. Insurgents also blew up a railway track. The military said security forces killed 21 insurgents in response to the attacks that also left 14 security forces dead.

A flurry of recent attacks in Iraq, apparently orchestrated by supporters of Iran-backed, anti-American militias, reflect surging anger against the United States, Israel's top ally, over the war in Gaza. Soon after the conflict erupted, Iran-backed militias launched dozens of attacks on bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and eastern Syria. Those attacks stopped in February — but only after a series of retaliatory U.S. strikes following a drone hit on a base in Jordan that killed three American soldiers. Now, attacks against KFC and other U.S.-linked businesses and brands in late May and earlier this week, represent a change in tactics intended to maximize anti-U.S. sentiment over Washington's ongoing support for Israel.