Beirut: Eight people have died and more than 2,750 injured, many grievously so, in Lebanon in a synchronised detonation of pagers targeting US-designated terror group Hezbollah. Iran's state media reported that its Ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, has also been wounded in the incident. The explosions happened at around 3:30 pm local time in Lebanon (6 pm IST).
Hezbollah, which is banned both by the United States and the European Union is the political and military establishment in Lebanon and is backed by Iran. Hezbollah backs Hamas, which has been at war with Israel in Gaza since October 2023.
According to a report by Saudi news channel Al Hadath, the pager attacks have killed a son of Ali Ammar, the Hezbollah representative in the Lebanese Parliament.
While some reports claim that the explosions were caused due to the overheating of lithium batteries caused by a cyber attack, some other reports allege that a thin lining of explosives were placed inside the pagers before being supplied. NDTV cannot independently verify either of these claims at the moment.
Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the attack and has claimed that this is the "biggest security breach" it has faced yet. All the pagers exploded nearly the same time, the Hezbollah has claimed, saying that this is an "Israeli breach" of its communications network.
Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani has been injured in the incident
Hezbollah strongholds across Lebanon have been hit by the "Israeli breach". This is the first such major incident since the group began trading fire with Israel almost every day in its support for Hamas which is at war with Israel in Gaza since the October 7 "terror attack" targeting Israeli nationals.
The explosions happened outside Lebanon too, as four people were injured in Syria as at least one pager blew up in a vehicle in Damascus.
"Dozens of Hezbollah members have been wounded in the south and in Beirut's southern suburbs after their pagers exploded," a source close to Hezbollah told news agency AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
Lebanon's official National News Agency called it "an unprecedented enemy security incident" with "handheld pagers detonating" at nearly the same time across Lebanon.
According to AFP, Hezbollah communicates through its own telecommunications system and has asked its members to avoid using mobile phones since the Gaza war began almost a year ago. The diktat was issued to avoid Israeli breaches of the technology.
WHAT HEZBOLLAH SAID IN ITS STATEMENT
Hezbollah put out a statement shortly after the pager explosions saying that at "Around 3:30 pm (local time) on Tuesday, several pager devices used by Hezbollah members and officials of various institutions exploded."
The statement further read, "A girl and her two brothers" were killed in the incident, while many others were injured.
"The relevant authorities in Hezbollah are currently conducting extensive security and scientific investigations to find the reasons for these simultaneous explosions," it added.
The statement urged people to be "cautious of rumors and misinformation spread by certain parties, as this may serve the psychological warfare" by Israel.
Israel has not yet responded to these claims made by Hezbollah or Iran.