Tuesday’s pager explosions around the nation claimed eight lives, according to Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad, while Hezbollah had earlier claimed that its members were using the pagers.
He said that the explosions “killed eight people, including a girl” at a live press conference. “There were about 2,750 injuries. more than 200 of them seriously,” he continued, adding that the most of the injuries were to the hands, stomach, and face.
One type of low-tech personal wireless communication device is the pager.
The pagers used by Hezbollah militants, medical personnel, and Iran’s envoy in Beirut detonated throughout Lebanon, injuring them, security sources told Reuters.
Speaking anonymously, a Hezbollah official claimed that the pager explosion was the “biggest security breach” the organization has experienced in almost a year of hostilities with Israel.
Parallel to the Gaza crisis that broke out in October of last year—the greatest such escalation in years—Israel and Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, have been fighting across international borders.
In response to Reuters’s questions concerning the explosions, the Israeli military declined to comment.
Two of Hezbollah’s fighters were among the three deaths that the group announced in a statement. It stated that a girl was the third person slain and that an inquiry was underway to determine what caused the explosions.
Two security officials told Reuters that one of the fighters slain was the son of a Hezbollah member of the Lebanese parliament.
Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said that Mojtaba Amani, the country’s ambassador to Lebanon, was slightly hurt when a pager burst.
Fars cited an anonymous source as stating, “Amani has a superficial injury and is currently under observation in a hospital.”
Reuters was unable to verify the report right away.
According to three security sources, the detonating pagers were the newest model that Hezbollah had imported in recent months.
A Reuters reporter witnessed ambulances racing through the Hezbollah-held southern suburbs of the city, Beirut, as widespread fear grew. According to a security source, there were also device explosions in Lebanon’s south.
wailing in agony
A Reuters correspondent at Mount Lebanon Hospital witnessed motorcyclists racing to the emergency department, where patients were screaming in agony and had bleeding hands.
About forty injured persons were receiving treatment at the Nabatieh public hospital in the southern part of the nation, according to Hassan Wazni, the hospital’s director, who spoke with Reuters. The wounds included limb, eye, and face traumas.
After the first explosions, which happened at approximately 3:45 p.m. local time (1345 GMT), there was a wave of explosions that continued for about an hour. The method of detonating the devices was not immediately apparent.
Multiple wireless communication devices were reportedly exploded around Lebanon, particularly in the southern suburbs of Beirut, according to Lebanese internal security forces, inflicting injuries.
The Reuters journalist reported that crowds of people congregated at building entrances to check on acquaintances who might have sustained injuries.
Television stations in the area aired CCTV footage that appeared to show a small portable gadget near to a grocery store cashier, where someone was paying, suddenly exploding.
In another video, a person working at a fruit booth in a marketplace was rendered unconscious by an explosion.
The health ministry’s crisis operations center in Lebanon requested that all medical personnel report to their respective hospitals in order to assist in handling the large volume of injured patients seeking emergency care.
It advised against the usage of pagers by healthcare personnel.
More than 50 ambulances and 300 emergency medical personnel were sent to assist in the victim’s evacuation, according to the Lebanese Red Cross.
The moment the militants from Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, sparking the Gaza conflict, Hezbollah launched missiles at Israel. Since then, Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging gunfire often without seeing a significant escalation.
Over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the wars, which have forced tens of thousands of people from towns and villages on both sides of the border to flee.
