Expected speech. The head of Lebanese Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, is expected to speak on Thursday, September 19 at 4 p.m. (Paris time), about the series of explosions that have taken place since Tuesday in the country. A first pager attack, which occurred on Tuesday, caused the death of at least 12 people and 2,800 injured.
Israel has not yet commented, while the Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said the first attack could be a harbinger of a wider war in the Middle East. Follow our live coverage.
New deadly explosions. DWalkie-talkies exploded, killing 20 people and injuring more than 450 on Wednesday, according to the latest report from the Health Ministry. The explosions took place in the suburbs of Beirut, as well as in southern and eastern Lebanon, according to the authorities.
Devices no longer manufactured for “about ten years”. The Japanese manufacturer Icom said on Thursday, after investigation, that he had stopped producing “about ten years ago” walkie-talkies suspected of exploding. “The IC-V82 is a portable radio that was produced and exported, including to the Middle East, from 2004 to October 2014 (…) Since then, it has not been shipped by our company”the company commented.
Concerns of the international community. The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, condemned these attacks on Wednesday. “attacks”saying to himself “extremely concerned” by the situation. The UN deplored a ““extremely worrying escalation” and Washington has warned against any “escalation”The UN Security Council will meet urgently on Friday to discuss the series of explosions.