“Hezbollah said in a statement that several pagers used by its members were detonated in the “simultaneous” explosions.”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
Hezbollah said in a statement that several pagers used by its members were detonated in the “simultaneous” explosions.
The Associated Press, citing the Lebanese health minister, says that at least eight people died and 2,750 were injured, 200 of them in critical condition.
Iran’s ambassador to Beirut, Mojtaba Amani, was wounded, Iranian media reported. The Fars news agency, which is close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, quoted an unnamed informed source as saying that Amani had a “superficial wound” from the pager explosion.
The pagers that exploded were the latest models of devices that Hezbollah imported into the country over the past month, Reuters reported, citing three unnamed sources.
According to reports from Lebanon, “hundreds” of members of the Lebanese group “Hezbollah”, including militants and humanitarian workers, were injured in the explosion of pagers in southern Lebanon and its suburbs.
A member of the group, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the blasts were the “biggest security infiltration” that Hezbollah has faced during the conflict with Israel in the past year.
Other news agencies also reported that several members of the group were injured in pager blasts.
In its statement, the Ministry of Health of Lebanon reported that hundreds of wounded people were admitted to hospitals as a result of the explosions. The ministry urged all citizens who have pagers to throw them away immediately. The statement also calls on all hospitals to be put on high alert.
The blasts came as the Israeli cabinet announced it was expanding its military objectives and the focus of its nearly year-long campaign against the extremist group Hamas (designated a terrorist group by the EU and the US) in the Gaza Strip to confront Hezbollah in the northern border with Lebanon.
Israel conducts a military operation in the Gaza Strip in response to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel. During the jihadist attack, about 1,200 people died, more than 200 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage and taken to Gaza. Some of them died. Over 100 people are still hooked.
According to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry, tens of thousands of Palestinians, mostly women and children, have died as a result of shelling by the Israel Defense Forces. There is no independent confirmation of these data.
Iran is Hezbollah’s main ally, and the Lebanese militant group is a key member of the so-called Axis of Resistance to Iran, a network of militant groups that help it oppose Israel and the United States.