Hundreds of people were injured across Lebanon when their pagers exploded Tuesday (September 17, 2024), Health Minister Firass Abiad said, with a source close to Hezbollah saying its members were targeted.
The source close to Hezbollah said a large number of the Iran-backed movement's members had been injured in the near-simultaneous incidents, but that no deaths had been reported.
It wasn’t immediately clear if people were killed.
A senior military intelligence official and an official with a Lebanese group with knowledge of the situation, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said that pagers carried by Hezbollah members were detonated. The second official said it was believed to be an Israeli attack.
The Associated Press reached out to the Israeli military, which declined to comment.
Photos and videos from Beirut’s southern suburbs circulating on social media and in local media showed people lying on the pavement with wounds on their hands or near their pants pockets.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah previously warned the group’s members not to carry cellphones, saying that they could be used by Israel to track their movements and to carry out targeted strikes.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry called on all hospitals to be on alert to take in emergency patients and for people who own pagers to get away from them. It also asked health workers to avoid using wireless devices.
AP photographers at area hospitals said the emergency rooms were overloaded with patients, many of them with injuries to their limbs, some in serious condition.
The state-run National News Agency said hospitals in southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley and Beirut’s southern suburbs — all areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence — had called on people to donate blood of all types.
The news agency reported that in Beirut’s southern suburbs and other areas “the handheld pagers system was detonated using advanced technology, and dozens of injuries were reported.”
The Associated Press quoted a Hezbollah official as saying that “several hundred” people in Lebanon, including its members, were wounded.
A Hezbollah official, quoted by Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the detonation of the pagers was the “biggest security breach” the group had suffered in nearly a year of war with Israel.
“The enemy (Israel) stands behind this security incident,” the official said, without elaborating. He added that the new pagers that Hezbollah members were carrying had lithium batteries that apparently exploded.
Lithium batteries, when overheated, can smoke, melt and even catch on fire. Rechargeable lithium batteries are used in consumer products ranging from cellphones and laptops to electric cars. Lithium battery fires can burn up to 590°C.
The incident comes at a time of heightened tensions between Lebanon and Israel. The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israeli forces have been clashing near-daily for more than 11 months against the backdrop of war between Israel and Hezbollah ally Hamas in Gaza.
The clashes have killed hundreds in Lebanon and dozens in Israel and displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the border.
Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon injured
Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was slightly injured on Tuesday (September 17, 2024) by the explosion of an electronic pager, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported.
“Amani has a superficial injury and is currently under observation in a hospital,” Fars quoted a source as saying.
Published - September 17, 2024 07:47 pm IST
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