- At least nine people were killed and more than 100 injured on Wednesday when radios or walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah exploded in Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon and the country’s capital, Beirut.
- One of the blasts occurred near a funeral organized by Hezbollah for those killed in the thousands of grenade explosions in Lebanon on Tuesday. The death toll from Tuesday’s blasts has risen to 12, including two children.
- The attacks have escalated Hezbollah’s tensions with Israel – which it blamed for the pager explosions – which were already high because of Tel Aviv’s war with Hamas in Gaza, and the group said it had used rockets to attack Israeli artillery positions
- The coordinated targeting of communications equipment used by Hezbollah is widely seen as an attempt to sow disarray within the group, and to show its members that attackers can reach them in ways they least expect.
- A senior Lebanese security source and another person familiar with the matter told Reuters news agency that Israeli spy agency Mossad, which has a long history of carrying out sophisticated operations on foreign soil, had planted explosives inside pagers imported by Hezbollah months before Tuesday’s blast.
- A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters the group had ordered 5,000 pagers made by Taiwan-based Gold Apollo and another source said each of the ordered devices had three grams of explosives hidden inside, which were expected to remain undetected for months. Gold Apollo said the devices were made under licence by a Hungary-based company called BAC.
- Iran’s state media reported that its ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was also injured in Tuesday’s explosions.
- A source told Reuters that the walkie-talkies that exploded on Wednesday were purchased by Hezbollah five months ago, around the same time as the pagers.
- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that civilian objects should not be weaponised. “I think it is very important that there are effective controls on civilian objects, that civilian objects are not weaponised… this should be a rule that governments are able to enforce,” he said.
- Mr. Guterres also warned of the risk of serious escalation. “As significant as the incident is, it is also important to note that this incident confirms that Lebanon is at serious risk of dramatic escalation – and every effort must be made to prevent escalation,” he said.
