Lebanon’s Hezbollah vowed Wednesday to continue its operations in support of Palestinian Hamas and to punish Israel, a day after an unprecedented attack that targeted it across Lebanon.
On Tuesday, simultaneous explosions of pagers used by the pro-Iranian Islamist movement killed 12 people and injured nearly 2,800, including several hundred of its members across the country, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Health Minister Firass Abiad said on Wednesday that more than 200 people were in intensive care.
Israel has not commented on the explosions, which occurred in several Hezbollah strongholds hours after the country announced it was expanding the goals of its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to its northern border with Lebanon.
The day after the war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, Hezbollah opened a front on the border with Israel, claiming to support Hamas. Since then, deadly exchanges of fire have been almost daily, leading to the displacement of several thousand residents on both sides of the border.
A source close to Hezbollah explained on Tuesday that “hundreds of members” of the Lebanese formation had been injured by the explosion of their pagers, a radio messaging system, in the southern suburbs of Beirut as well as in the south and east of Lebanon.
Hezbollah accused Israel of being “entirely responsible” for this, warning that it would “receive its just punishment.”
He reaffirmed on Wednesday that he “will continue” to carry out support operations in Gaza despite this unprecedented attack.
The Hezbollah leader is scheduled to speak Thursday at 5 p.m. (10 a.m. EDT).
Iran denounced a “mass killing” and Russia “strongly” condemned the attack, calling on all parties to “exercise restraint”.
“Never seen that”
On Tuesday, after the attack, dozens of ambulances carrying the wounded rushed to hospitals in Beirut, the Bekaa and Saida.
In Beirut’s southern suburbs, tents were set up to accommodate residents who rushed to donate blood.
“I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” Moussa, who asked to be identified by his first name only, told AFP. “It exploded all of a sudden.” […] I found people lying on the ground in front of me.”
Among the dead was a 10-year-old girl killed when her father’s pager exploded, as well as the son of a Hezbollah MP.
Iranian ambassador to Beirut, Mojtaba Amani, was injured, according to Iranian television.
Lebanese Education Minister Abbas Halabi announced the closure of schools and universities on Wednesday.
“Not aware”
The United States, Israel’s top ally, was “not aware” of the explosions in advance, the State Department said, urging Iran to avoid any action that would escalate tensions in the region.
The impact of the explosions on Hezbollah’s communications was not immediately clear.
A source close to the Lebanese formation told AFP that “the pagers which exploded concern a shipment recently imported by Hezbollah of 1000 devices”, which appear to have been “hacked at the source”.
“According to the video recordings […]”A small plastic explosive was certainly hidden next to the battery (of the pagers) for remote triggering by sending a message,” estimated Charles Lister, an expert at the Middle East Institute (MEI), on X.
For him, “the Mossad (Israeli foreign intelligence service, editor’s note) infiltrated the supply chain.”
The series of explosions marks an “extremely worrying escalation,” the UN said.
Israel announced on Tuesday its decision to extend the war’s objectives to the Israeli-Lebanese border, in order to allow the return of displaced people in northern Israel.
The main objectives stated so far have been the destruction of Hamas – in power in Gaza since 2007 and which Israel considers a terrorist organisation, as do the European Union and the United States – and the return of the hostages held in the Palestinian territory.
German airline Lufthansa has announced the suspension of its flights to and from Tel Aviv and Tehran until at least Thursday. Air France has suspended its flights to Beirut and Tel Aviv, also until September 19.
The Israeli army said on Wednesday that it had struck the day before an infrastructure “in which terrorists were operating” in Majdal Selm, in the south of Lebanon, and during the night other Hezbollah “sites” in five sectors in the south of the country.
Blinken in Cairo
In this very tense context, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Cairo with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to discuss a new proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages.
After months of fruitless negotiations, Washington said it was still working with mediators Qatar and Egypt to finalize a proposed deal that would suit both sides.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas commandos carried out an unprecedented attack on Israeli soil, which resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.
Of the 251 people abducted during the attack, 97 are still being held in Gaza, 33 of whom have been declared dead by the army.
In retaliation, Israel launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip that left at least 41,272 dead, according to the Hamas government’s health ministry in Gaza, which did not detail the fighters and civilians killed.
The war, which began almost a year ago, has seen no respite in the Palestinian territory, which is under siege and hit by a humanitarian catastrophe.
According to the Gaza Civil Defense, two people were killed and eight others injured in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on Tuesday night.
The Israeli army also blew up several houses in Bureij and the Zahra area in central Gaza, according to the same source.
Four soldiers were killed in fighting in Gaza on Tuesday, the Israeli army said on Wednesday, adding that six others were wounded, three seriously.