HALTING Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel to allow residents to return to their homes is now an official war goal, the far-right government said today.

This came before news broke that hundreds of handheld pagers exploded today, killing at least eight people, including members of militant group Hezbollah and wounding the Iranian ambassador, government and Hezbollah officials said.

Officials pointed the finger at Israel for what appeared to be a sophisticated, remote attack that wounded more than 2,700 people at a time of rising tensions across the Lebanon border. The Israeli military declined to comment.