“Eight people were killed and nearly 2,750 others injured” in the explosion Tuesday of pagers belonging to Hezbollah members in Lebanon, the health minister announced. A 10-year-old girl was reportedly among the dead, and Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon was reportedly “superficially” injured, according to his country’s state television.
Pagers (also called beepers or pagers), a radio messaging system, exploded simultaneously in several Lebanese regions where the pro-Iranian group is based. According to the minister, most of the victims were injured “in the face, hand, stomach and even eyes.”
The Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah said Tuesday that Israel was “fully responsible” for the simultaneous explosion. In a statement, the powerful pro-Iranian group assured that Israel would “receive its just punishment” following “this criminal aggression.” A source close to the movement spoke of a hack.
The explosions occurred in several strongholds of the Iranian-backed Lebanese Islamist movement, hours after Israel announced it was expanding the goals of its war against the Palestinian Hamas in the Gaza Strip to its northern border with Lebanon.
Since the start of the Gaza war nearly a year ago, the border area has become the scene of almost daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, which have led to the displacement of tens of thousands of civilians on both sides.
This is the first such incident since cross-border violence began in October 2023.
An AFP correspondent in the Bekaa saw wounded people streaming into hospitals. Another in the southern Lebanese city of Saida reported dozens of ambulances arriving at hospitals.
A ten-year-old girl was killed, according to her family and a source close to Hezbollah.
“The return of the inhabitants of northern Israel to their homes”
Israel had announced shortly before its decision to extend the aims of the war to the Israeli-Lebanese border, in order to allow the return of displaced people. The main stated objectives of the war in Gaza so far were the destruction of Hamas, in power since 2007 in the Palestinian territory, and the return of the hostages taken during the October 7 attack on Israel.
“The political and security cabinet has updated the aims of the war to include the safe return of northerners [d’Israël] “at home,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant went further. “Military action” against Hezbollah is “the only way to ensure the return of the people of northern Israel to their homes,” he told a visiting U.S. envoy to Israel, Amos Hochstein.
In this high-risk context, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected in Egypt on Wednesday to discuss a new compromise proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of dozens of hostages held in the Palestinian territory, according to the State Department.
“Buffer zone” in Lebanon?
On Tuesday, an Israeli strike in Blida, on the border in southern Lebanon, left three dead according to Lebanese authorities, with the Israeli army claiming to have killed members of Hezbollah. The Lebanese movement announced shots against military positions in northern Israel.
The Israeli military said several drones coming from Lebanon were intercepted as they fell in an open area.
Michael Horowitz, a geopolitical expert at Le Beck, a Middle East-based security consultancy, said: “Without a ceasefire in Gaza, there will be no agreement on the border with Lebanon. For Israel, this means that it will probably have to prepare for a military solution, especially as the pressure mounts because tens of thousands of Israelis remain displaced.”
“There is a consensus [en Israël] that a war to completely eliminate Hezbollah will be extremely difficult, costly and dangerous, because it can lead to a regional conflagration. The goal of a military operation would therefore be more limited, in particular to create a buffer zone in southern Lebanon,” he added.
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 has vowed to destroy Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organization, along with Canada, the European Union and the United States.
His army launched an offensive that left at least 41,252 dead, according to the Hamas government’s health ministry in Gaza, which did not detail the fighters and civilians killed.
“Everything destroyed”
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar said Monday that his movement was “prepared” to “wage a long war of attrition” against the Israeli army.
Israeli airstrikes targeted the besieged Palestinian territory before dawn on Tuesday, killing at least seven people, including three in a house in Gaza City in the north, according to the Civil Defense.
“This war has destroyed everything, our mental and physical health, our future and our dreams. It has separated us from our loved ones, destroyed everything beautiful in our lives,” said Alaa Halilo, a 32-year-old Palestinian woman displaced in Gaza City.
After months of fruitless negotiations to reach a truce, the United States is working, “in particular with Egypt and Qatar”, the two other mediating countries, on a new compromise proposal, the State Department indicated on Monday.
On Tuesday, Qatar said efforts were continuing to try to reach a ceasefire.