close_game
close_game

9 dead, thousands injured in pager blasts in Lebanon

Sep 18, 2024 08:09 AM IST

The Lebanese foreign ministry described the explosions as a ‘dangerous and deliberate Israeli escalation’

At least nine were killed and 2,800 others including Hezbollah fighters, medics and Iran’s envoy to Beirut were wounded on Tuesday when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon, security sources and the Lebanese health minister said.

A man's bag explodes in a supermarket in Beirut, Lebanon September 17, 2024 in this screen grab from a video obtained from social media. Social Media/via REUTERS(via REUTERS)
A man's bag explodes in a supermarket in Beirut, Lebanon September 17, 2024 in this screen grab from a video obtained from social media. Social Media/via REUTERS(via REUTERS)

Lebanon’s information minister Ziad Makary said the government condemned the detonation of the pagers as an “Israeli aggression”. Hezbollah also blamed Israel for the pager blasts and said it would receive “its fair punishment”.

A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the detonation of the pagers was the “biggest security breach” the group had been subjected to in nearly a year of conflict with Israel.

Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the Gaza war erupted last October, in the worst such escalation in years.

Hezbollah confirmed in a statement the deaths of at least three people, including two of its fighters. The third person killed was a girl, it said, adding that an investigation was being conducted into the causes of the blasts.

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was not hurt in the explosions, the group said.

The wave of explosions lasted around an hour after the initial detonations, which took place about 3:45pm local time. It was not immediately clear how the devices were detonated.

The Lebanese foreign ministry described the explosions as a “dangerous and deliberate Israeli escalation” which it said had been “accompanied by Israeli threats to expand the war towards Lebanon on a large scale”.

Read more: Hezbollah pager blasts: 8 dead, 2,750 injured in Lebanon and Syria. What we know

Lebanese internal security forces said a number of wireless communication devices were detonated across Lebanon, especially in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold. The pagers that detonated were the latest model brought in by Hezbollah in recent months, three security sources said.

AFP journalists saw dozens of wounded being rushed to hospital in Beirut and in the south, where dozens of ambulances rushed between the cities of Tyre and Sidon in both directions.

Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon injured

Lebanese health minister Firass Abiad said 2,800 people had been wounded in the explosions, 200 of them critically. Many of those hurt included Hezbollah fighters who are the sons of top officials from the armed group, two security sources told Reuters.

One of the fighters killed was the son of a Hezbollah member of the Lebanese parliament, Ali Ammar, they said. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, suffered a “superficial injury” in a pager explosion and is currently under observation in hospital, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said. There was no word from the Israeli government on the explosions.

In neighbouring Syria, 14 people were wounded “after pagers used by Hezbollah exploded,” Britain-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israel announced it was broadening the aims of the war sparked by the Hamas attacks to include its fight against Hezbollah along its border with Lebanon.

To date, Israel’s objectives have been to crush Hamas and bring home the hostages seized by Palestinian militants during the October 7 attacks that sparked the war.

On Tuesday, Israel’s domestic security agency said it had foiled a plot by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to assassinate a former senior defence official in the coming days.

The Shin Bet agency, which did not name the official, said in a statement it had seized an explosive device attached to a remote detonation system, using a mobile phone and a camera that Hezbollah had planned to operate from Lebanon.

Read breaking news, latest...
See more
Read breaking news, latest updates from US, UK, Pakistan and other countries across the world on topics related to US Election, politics,crime, along with national affairs.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Share this article
SHARE
Story Saved
Live Score
OPEN APP
Saved Articles
Following
My Reads
Sign out
New Delhi 0C
Sunday, October 06, 2024
Start 14 Days Free Trial Subscribe Now
Follow Us On