The first incident of its kind in nearly a year. Hundreds of Hezbollah members were injured Tuesday, September 17 across Lebanon when their pagers, a radio messaging system, exploded. Here’s what we know about the attack, which the Lebanese Islamist movement has blamed on Israel.
Read also: Pager explosions in Lebanon: “The most surprising thing is the simultaneity,” according to this expert
At least nine dead and nearly 2,800 others injured
Nine people were killed and nearly 2,800 others injured in the explosion of pagers belonging to Hezbollah members in Lebanon, according to a report from the Ministry of Health on Tuesday, September 17.
Among the dead was the son of a Hezbollah MP, Ali Ammar, a Source close to Hezbollah told AFP.Agence France Presse (AFP). A ten-year-old girl was also killed in eastern Lebanon when her father’s pager exploded, her family said. The son of MP Hassan Fadlallah, whose death had been announced, was ultimately only injured.
The son of a senior Hezbollah security official was injured, according to a Source close to the movement. Iran’s ambassador to Beirut, Mojtaba Amani, was also injured in the beeper explosion, Iranian state television reported. An initial report from the Health Ministry put the death toll at eight and the number injured at nearly 2,750.
Hezbollah in Syria also affected
Fourteen members of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah in Syria were also injured when their pagers exploded, as hundreds of other such paging devices exploded in Lebanon, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said, reporting theAFP.
A Source close to Hezbollah confirmed to theAFP that members of the pro-Iranian formation, deployed in Syria to support the regime, had been injured without specifying the number.
The National News Agency (ANI, official), which reported a “unprecedented security incident”, added that “ The beeper system was hacked via high technology”Hezbollah had asked its members to stop using cell phones to avoid Israeli hacking. The powerful party has set up a pager system through which its members are called to return to their units.
According to reports relayed on X, formerly Twitter, some owners of these devices suddenly felt them heat up. “In theory, you can overheat the lithium battery in these devices until it explodes. But from a technical point of view, it’s an extraordinary feat of coordination.”a Lebanese IT engineer told our correspondent on site.
A Source close to Hezbollah told theAFP that “The beepers that exploded are from a shipment of 1,000 devices recently imported by Hezbollah”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”estimates Charles Lister, an expert at the Middle East Institute (MEI), on the social network X. Which means for him that “the Mossad (Israeli foreign secret service, in charge of special operations, Editor’s note) infiltrated the supply chain”.
Israeli agents have probably “infiltrated the production process and added an explosive component and a remotely activated detonator to the beepers, without arousing suspicion”adds Brussels-based military analyst Elijah Magnier, describing “a major security breach in Hezbollah protocols,” reports theAFP.
Hospitals on alert
A correspondent of theAFP in the Bekaa saw wounded people pouring into hospitals in the region. Another in the southern Lebanese city of Saida reported dozens of ambulances arriving at hospitals.
Several witnesses saw ambulances carrying wounded people to the southern suburbs, where hospitals were calling for blood donations. At the private American Hospital of Beirut (AUBMC), one of the largest in the capital, a photographer from theAFP saw dozens of ambulances transporting the injured.
Read also: Pager explosion in Lebanon: what is this ancestor of the mobile known for its reliability?
The Ministry of Health has requested “to all health professionals to immediately go to their workplaces to contribute to emergency care for the large number of injured” and launched a “Call for coordination with the Lebanese Red Cross to organize blood donations”.
According to the ministry, most of the victims were injured. “in the face, in the hand, in the stomach and even in the eyes”. On social media, videos and images show men with bloody hands and amputated fingers. Others lie on the ground in their blood with deep wounds to the head, groin or back.
Iraq has announced that it is sending medical teams and emergency workers to help Lebanon, as Baghdad fears a “expansion of war” regional.
Israel “fully responsible” according to Hezbollah
Hezbollah said on Tuesday that Israel was “fully responsible” of the explosion. In a statement, the powerful pro-Iranian party assured that Israel would “receive his just punishment ” following “this criminal aggression.”
For its part, Washington urged Tehran to avoid any action that would aggravate tensions. “We urge Iran not to use any event to try to fuel instability and further escalate tensions in the region.”said US Foreign Ministry spokesman Matthew Miller.
Hamas, for its part, described the explosions as “Zionist terrorist aggression” in the region, referring to Israel. The attack made no distinction “between resistance fighters and civilians,” the Palestinian Islamist movement added.
US unaware of attack
The United States has said it was neither involved in nor had advance notice of the explosion of pagers belonging to Hezbollah members in Lebanon. “I can tell you that the United States was not involved in this, that they were not aware of this incident in advance, and at this point we are gathering information,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
He declined to comment on the attribution of this attack, the Lebanese Islamist movement designating Israel, ally of the United States and adversary of Hezbollah.
The attack comes after weeks of behind-the-scenes talks by the United States to try to avoid a response from Iran to the assassination in late July in Tehran of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Washington hammered home this message again on Tuesday. “We urge Iran not to use any event to try to fuel instability and further escalate tensions in the region,” said Matthew Miller.
The United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, for his part, mentioned in a statement: “an extremely worrying escalation in an already (…) volatile context”. She urged “all parties concerned to refrain from any further action (…) which could trigger a wider conflagration.”
Related News :