- Lebanese authorities blame the Israeli government for the attack. Several Hezbollah members in Syria were also injured | Photo: EFE
At least 12 people were killed on Tuesday, September 17, and more than 2,800 were injured (200 of them seriously), when pager devices (pagers) in the hands of members of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah exploded in several locations in the country. Lebanonthe Lebanese Ministry of Public Health reported.
The explosions occurred in several locations in southern Lebanon and in the southern suburbs of Beirut, regions controlled by the Shiite group Hezbollah, the country’s National News Agency (ANN) said.
“Dozens of injured people were reported and are being taken to hospitals by ambulances,” ANN said.
According to Hezbollah, the dead include a minor and two members of this movement.
Several members of the group were also injured in Syrian territory by the explosion of these devices.
“Several members of the Lebanese group Hezbollah arrived at hospitals in Damascus and Rif Damascus province after being injured when the pagers they were carrying exploded,” the organization said in a statement.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a wide network of collaborators on the ground, reported that one of the explosions took place inside a vehicle that was travelling near the capital’s Kafr Sousa neighbourhood.
Iranian ambassador wounded
Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was also injured by the pager explosions, Iranian media reported.
The Fars news agency, which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard, said Amini suffered a “superficial” wound and was treated in hospital. Iran’s diplomatic mission confirmed the report and said the ambassador was doing well after suffering the wound.
“Mojtaba Amani, the honorable ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has suffered a superficial wound. The general condition of the honorable ambassador is good,” the Iranian Embassy reported on its X account. The information was confirmed by the diplomat’s wife, Narges Ghadirian, in X.
Israel blamed for the explosions
Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry and the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah have each blamed Israel for the massive explosion of pagers across the country.
“After examining all the facts, current data and available information regarding the heinous attack that occurred this afternoon, we hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression that also targeted civilians and killed several people,” Hezbollah said in a statement.
The armed group promised in its statement that the Jewish state would receive a “just” punishment for the action.
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry also attributed the incident to an “Israeli cyber attack, in which a large number of pagers were detonated.” It said it was preparing a complaint to be submitted to the United Nations Security Council.
“This serious and deliberate Israeli escalation coincides with Israeli threats to expand the war into Lebanon and its uncompromising stance calling for more bloodshed, destruction and sabotage,” the government department said in a statement.
These statements come after the Minister of Telecommunications of Lebanon, Johanny Corn, indicated the possibility that these devices entered the country for “that purpose.”
They claim that the pagers had recently arrived
Corn said the pagers that exploded in the possession of members of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah were part of a shipment that “recently arrived” in the country.
“I do not have any details yet, but I am aware that this shipment of devices arrived recently,” the telecommunications minister told reporters after the Lebanese Council of Ministers meeting.
The official, who insisted that his department had not yet gathered enough information about what happened, said that the batteries in the pagers had become hot, so some people “felt the temperature of the device and dropped it” before it exploded.
“It may have been activated remotely, but we don’t know how. We need to know how and when this shipment of devices entered Lebanon, which company it belongs to, who its owner is (…). We need to know more details to know how this device works and how it entered Lebanon,” the minister said.
The Ministry of Public Health has called on all hospitals in the affected areas to activate the “maximum alert” level and prepare to deal with an “urgent need for emergency health services.”
The devices would have contained explosives
One version reported by The New York Times, citing anonymous sources, is that Israel placed the explosives in a batch of paging devices manufactured in Taiwan and sold to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Hezbollah ordered some 3,000 of the devices from Taiwanese company Gold Apollo, which were manipulated by Israel before reaching Lebanon, US and foreign officials told the newspaper.
The explosives were implanted next to the battery of each of the pagers with a mechanism to detonate them remotely.
On Tuesday, the devices received a message that appeared to come from the Hezbollah leadership but which in reality was used to detonate the explosives, leaving at least nine dead and more than 2,800 injured, according to figures from the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
The devices were programmed to beep for several seconds before the explosion, according to The New York Times.
Conflict in the Middle East
Israel has been at war with Iran since October 2023, when the Hamas terrorist group attacked them, killing more than 1,400 people and kidnapping dozens.
The conflict has also claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people in Gaza due to Israeli attacks in the area, according to Iranian health authorities.
The Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, for its part, has been backed by Iran and has also clashed with Israeli troops since the start of the war.
With information from EFE.
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#Pager #explosions #Lebanon #leave #dead #injured
2024-09-18 17:33:33
