Hezbollah walkie-talkies explode, killing three and wounding dozens in second wave of carnage in Lebanon, a day after pagers were detonated en masse in ‘Israeli operation’
Walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah fighters have exploded across Lebanon, killing three people and wounding dozens, including relatives at a funeral, witnesses and security sources said.
The attack comes a day after thousands of pagers used by the group exploded, wounding nearly 3,000 people and killing a dozen, including civilians and children.
A security source has now revealed that Hezbollah purchased the portable radios five months ago, around the same time as the compromised pagers.
The latest explosions this afternoon took place in the south of the country and in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, a security source and a witness said.
According to reports, several explosions occurred the day before at the site of the funeral of three Hezbollah members and a child who had been killed by exploding pagers.
Photos of exploded portable radios are circulating online
Flames engulf a building in Lebanon during explosions
According to local media, a fire broke out in a car as a result of an exploding device
An ambulance carrying suspected wounded people after multiple explosions were heard during the funeral of four Hezbollah fighters after their mobile pagers exploded, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, September 18, 2024
A photo circulating online shows one of the radio devices after it was detonated
Lebanon’s foreign minister warned today that yesterday’s beeping signals are a sign of escalating war.
Hezbollah said Wednesday it had attacked Israeli artillery positions with rockets, the first attack on its arch-foe since beeper blasts wounded thousands in Lebanon and raised the prospect of a wider war in the Middle East.
Israel’s Mossad spy agency, which has a long history of sophisticated operations on foreign soil, planted explosives in pagers imported by Hezbollah months before Tuesday’s detonations, a senior Lebanese security source and another source told Reuters.
The death toll has risen to 12, including two children, Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said on Wednesday. Nearly 3,000 people were wounded in Tuesday’s attack, including many fighters from the militant group and Iran’s envoy in Beirut.
A Taiwanese beeper manufacturer denied producing the beepers, which were detonated in a daring attack that raised the prospect of a full-scale war between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel.
Gold Apollo said the devices were made under license by a company called BAC, based in the Hungarian capital Budapest.
It is not yet known when Hezbollah carried out its last rocket attack, but the group normally announces such attacks shortly after they have been carried out. It appears to have fired on Israeli artillery positions on Wednesday.
Photos from inside a residential building appear to show explosion damage
Hezbollah has announced it will take revenge on Israel. The Israeli military declined to comment on the explosions.
Since the Gaza conflict in October last year, both sides have been engaged in a cross-border war, raising fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East that could also involve the United States and Iran.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi accused Israel of bringing the Middle East to the brink of a regional war by orchestrating a dangerous escalation on many fronts.
“Hezbollah wants to avoid an all-out war. It still wants to avoid one. But given the scale, the impact on families, on civilians, there will be pressure for a stronger response,” said Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center.
Hezbollah, Iran’s most powerful ally in the Middle East, said in a statement that it would continue to support Hamas in Gaza and that Israel should wait for a response to the pager “massacre” that left fighters and others bloodied, hospitalized or dead.
A Hezbollah official said the explosion was the “biggest security breach” in the group’s history.
