14 Dead, Over 300 Injured As Walkie-Talkies Explode In Hezbollah Units Across Lebanon

Fourteen people have died and more than 300 others wounded as walkie-talkies have blown up at Hezbollah strongholds across Lebanon. This comes a day after pagers exploded across the middle-eastern country, killing twelve people and injuring nearly 3,000 others.

How many walkie-talkies blew up are not known, but the count is estimated at several hundred. There are reports that landline telephones exploded too at various locations in East Lebanon.

According to reports, the hand-held wireless radio devices or walkie-talkies were bought around five months ago, approximately the same time as the pagers.

Today's blasts happened across southern Lebanon as well as Beirut's suburbs. At least one of the blasts happened near a funeral organised by Hezbollah for a member who was killed in yesterday's pager blasts. A video of the incident was widely circulated on social media platforms.

ISRAEL MOVING TROOPS, US WARNS AGAINST ESCALATION

Iran-backed Hezbollah said today that it attacked Israeli artillery positions with rockets in the first strike at its arch-rival since pager blasts wounded thousands of its members in Lebanon and raised the prospect of a wider Middle East war.

Israel has on Wednesday warned that Hezbollah's escalation in the last 24 hours has moved the conflict's "centre of gravity to the north", adding that they are "allocating forces, resources and energy for the northern arena," The United States has warned against any escalation by either side.

Israel's spy agency Mossad, which has a long history of sophisticated operations on foreign soil, planted explosives inside pagers imported by Hezbollah months before Tuesday's detonations, a senior Lebanese security source and another source told news agency Reuters.

This morning Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad confirmed that twelve people were killed and around 2,800 wounded in the incident.

The minister, in a televised press conference, said the blasts "killed twelve people, including a girl", adding that "About 2,800 people were injured and more than 200 of them critically". The injuries were mostly on the face, hands and stomach, he had said.

Iran's state media had reported that its Ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was also wounded in yesterday's pager incident.

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.

Hezbollah had on Tuesday blamed Israel for the attack and has claimed that this is the "biggest security breach" it has faced yet.

Just like the pagers, all the walkie-talkie devices also exploded at the same time, Hezbollah has claimed.

Hezbollah had called the blasts an "Israeli breach" of its communications network, and has vowed to avenge the attack. Hezbollah also said it will continue to support Hamas in Gaza and that Israel should wait for a response for the "massacre".

WHO MADE THESE DEVICES?

Initial reports suggested that the pagers were made by a Taiwanese company, but the firm has denied this. The Taiwanese pager manufacturer - Gold Apollo - said that the devices were made under a licence by a company called BAC, which is situated in Budapest, the capital city of Hungary.

Though Israel has not commented on the blasts, it had said that it is widening the spectrum of its war with Hamas in Gaza to include its fight against its ally Hezbollah. Israel had made this statement hours before the blasts on Tuesday,

HEZBOLLAH RESPONSE

Calling it as a "massacre" and "criminal aggression", Hezbollah said Israel is "fully responsible" for these attacks.

Hezbollah, Iran's most powerful proxy in the Middle East, said in a statement it would continue to support Hamas in Gaza and Israel should await a response to the pager "massacre" which left fighters and others bloodied, hospitalised or dead.

Speaking further on the issue, Hezbollah said cross-border firing with Israeli forces have been "ongoing and separate from the difficult reckoning that the criminal enemy must await for its massacre."

(Inputs from Reuters and AFP)