A new wave of explosions of Hezbollah transmission devices left nine dead and a hundred wounded across Lebanon on Wednesday, the day after a similar unprecedented attack attributed to Israel by the Lebanese Islamist movement, which has vowed revenge.
Walkie-talkies exploded simultaneously in the southern suburbs of Beirut, at the same time as the funeral of four Hezbollah members killed the day before in the explosion of pagers was taking place, according to a source close to the Lebanese movement and rescue workers.
The explosions caused panic, according to an AFP photographer covering the funeral.
According to Lebanese authorities, nine people were killed and around a hundred others injured in the explosions which also occurred in Sidon and Baalbeck, where 15 people were injured, a hospital source told AFP.
On Tuesday, simultaneous explosions of pagers, a radio messaging system used by the pro-Iranian Islamist movement, left twelve dead, including two children, and between 2,750 and 2,800 injured, according to a new report from the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
Israel has not commented on the explosions, hours after the country announced it was expanding the aims of its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to its northern border with Lebanon.
Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, Hezbollah has 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 tens of thousands of residents on both sides of the border.
“Indescribable”
Hezbollah accused Israel of being “entirely responsible” for the pager explosions, warning that it would “receive its just punishment.”
The Lebanese movement, whose leader is due to speak on Thursday, has promised to continue its operations in support of the Palestinian Hamas.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said yesterday’s attack could be a harbinger of a wider war in the Middle East.
Hussein, a shop owner in the southern city of Tyre, said he was in his shop on Tuesday when he heard an explosion nearby.
A man “fell to the ground and started screaming. More than ten people collapsed and no one knew what was happening.”
When he arrived at the hospital, he spoke of “indescribable” scenes. “One person had lost a hand, another had his face covered in blood. […] There was blood everywhere.”
Iranian ambassador to Beirut, Mojtaba Amani, was injured, according to Iranian television.
The Lebanese Ministry of Education announced on Wednesday the closure of schools and universities.
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP that “the pagers that exploded concern a shipment recently imported by Hezbollah of 1,000 devices,” which appear to have been “hacked at source.”
“According to the video recordings […]”A small plastic explosive was probably hidden next to the battery (of the pagers) for remote triggering by sending a message,” Charles Lister, an expert at the Middle East Institute, said on X.
“Infiltration”
For him, “the Mossad (Israeli foreign intelligence service) infiltrated the supply chain.”
EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell on Wednesday condemned the pager “attacks”, saying he was “extremely concerned” about the situation. The UN deplored an “extremely worrying escalation”.
Israel announced the same day 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, which has been in power in Gaza since 2007, and the return of the hostages held in the Palestinian territory.
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 southern sectors of the country.
“Best of luck”
In this explosive context, the American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, visiting Cairo, called on Israel and Hamas to show “political will” to reach a ceasefire agreement, in order to “address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the risks to regional stability”, after months of fruitless negotiations.
Meanwhile, the war continues unabated in the besieged Palestinian territory, which is suffering a humanitarian catastrophe.
At least five people were killed on Wednesday by an Israeli airstrike on a school converted into a shelter for displaced people in a neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, according to the Gaza Civil Defense.
The army confirmed the strike, saying Hamas fighters were using the school “to plan and carry out terrorist activities.”
Four soldiers were killed in fighting in Gaza on Tuesday, the army said, adding that six others were wounded.
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 Israeli figures that include hostages who died or were killed in captivity in the Gaza Strip.
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.
More than 41,272 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in the Gaza Strip, the majority of them civilians, according to data from the Hamas government’s health ministry in Gaza, deemed reliable by the UN.