8 dead, over 2,700 hurt in pager detonations across Lebanon

Eight persons died and around 2,750 were wounded, with 200 in critical condition, as pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon, Health Minister Firass Abiad said on Tuesday. The wave of explosions lasted around an hour after the initial detonations, which took place about 7:15 pm. It was not immediately clear how the devices were detonated.

The victims included several Hezbollah fighters and medics. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, also suffered a minor injury when a pager exploded, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, in a phone call with his Lebanese counterpart, strongly condemned the “terrorist attack” and thanked Lebanon for providing immediate medical treatment to Amani.

A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the detonation of the pagers was the “biggest security breach” the group had been subjected to in nearly a year of conflict with Israel.

Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah have been engaged in cross-border warfare in parallel with the Gaza war which erupted last October. The Israeli military declined to comment as Reuters enquired about the detonations.

Lebanon’s information Minister Ziad Makary said the government condemned the detonation of the pagers as an “Israeli aggression”. Hezbollah also blamed Israel for the pager blasts and said it would receive “its fair punishment”. Besides, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was not harmed in the spree of pager blasts across Lebanon, a senior Hezbollah source told Reuters on Tuesday.

The Israeli military declined to comment on Reuters enquiries about the detonations.