LAST UPDATE | 19 Sep
THE LEADER OF Hezbollah has acknowledged that his group suffered an “unprecedented” blow when thousands of operatives’ communication devices exploded across Lebanon.
Pagers used by members of the group simultaneously exploded on Tuesday in a coordinated attack believed to have been orchestrated by Israel – which has not yet made any official comment – followed by a second round of explosions involving walkie-talkies yesterday.
The explosions killed 37 people and wounded nearly 3,000 people across two days. Injuries reported by medics include damage to limbs and eyes, with some people requiring amputations and others losing their sight due to shrapnel.
One of the victims was the 10-year-old daughter of a Hezbollah member, who was killed in east Lebanon when her father’s pager exploded.
AFPTV footage shows people fleeing and trying to find cover when an explosion went off during a funeral for Hezbollah members in the capital city of Beirut yesterday afternoon.
In his first speech since the incident, Hassan Nasrallah struck a defiant tone, vowing that Israel would face retribution.
Even as he delivered his televised address, Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier over Beirut.
Describing the attacks as a “massacre” and as a possible “act of war”, Nasrallah said Israel would face “tough retribution and a just punishment, where it expects it and where it does not”.
“With this operation, the enemy crossed all… red lines”, the Hezbollah chief said, accusing Israel of trying to “kill no fewer than 5,000 people” in “a major and unprecedented… blow” to the group.
He vowed to keep up Hezbollah’s fight against Israel until a ceasefire in Gaza is reached.
“The Lebanese front will not stop until the aggression on Gaza stops” despite “all this blood spilt,” he said.
He also announced an internal probe into the explosions.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military announced new strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, as warning sirens rang out in northern Israel indicating possible incoming fire.
The Israeli military also said two soldiers were killed near the border.
Hezbollah said 25 of its members had been killed in the explosions, with a source close to the group saying at least 20 had died when their walkie-talkies blew up.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister called on the United Nations to oppose what he called Israel’s “technological war”.
Najib Mikati has said that a UN Security Council meeting tomorrow should “take a firm stance to stop the Israeli aggression on Lebanon and the technological war it is waging”.
Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said the “blatant assault on Lebanon’s sovereignty and security” was a dangerous development that could “signal a wider war”.
The escalating conflict between Hezbollah and Israel is stoking fears of an all-out war erupting between the two sides.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin condemned the first round of explosions yesterday, saying the the “nature of that attack illustrates a disregard for the lives of people” and urging an end to the violence, stating: “We do not need a war in Lebanon.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Israel faces “a crushing response from the resistance front” after the blasts, which wounded Tehran’s ambassador in Beirut.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has been scrambling to salvage efforts for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, called for restraint by all sides.
“We don’t want to see any escalatory actions by any party” that would endanger the goal of a ceasefire to the Gaza conflict, he said as he joined European foreign ministers in Paris to discuss the widening crisis.
Israel has not commented on the attacks, but Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday, in reference to Israel’s border with Lebanon: “The centre of gravity is moving northward.”
“We are at the start of a new phase in the war,” he warned.
In Israel, left-leaning Haaretz newspaper wrote that the attacks have put Israel and Hezbollah “on the brink of all-out war”.
Israel has continued to bombard Gaza, killing five people yesterday in a strike on a school building that Gaza’s civil defence agency says was being used as a shelter but the Israeli military claims was a Hamas compound.
At least 41,272 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, according to its health ministry.
Experts are trying to understand exactly how the explosives were places in the devices and reach the members of Hezbollah without the abnormality being detected.
Hezbollah had turned to using analogue devices instead of Lebanon’s state-run telecommunications, which it believes has been breached by Israel.
The pagers are used by combatants but also administrative and health workers.
The UN’s Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that civilian objects should not be weaponised, adding that the attacks pose a serious risk of escalating the conflict in the Middle East.
Similarly, Malaysia’s embassy in Beirut condemned the “weaponisation of communication devices”.
Analysts said operatives had likely planted explosives on the pagers before they were delivered to Hezbollah.
The preliminary findings of a Lebanese investigation found the pagers had been booby-trapped, a security official said.
“Data indicates the devices were pre-programmed to detonate and contained explosive materials planted next to the battery,” the official said, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
A source close to Hezbollah, asking not to be identified, said the pagers were recently imported and appeared to have been “sabotaged at source”.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that the pagers that exploded were produced by the Hungary-based BAC Consulting on behalf of Taiwanese manufacturer Gold Apollo. It cited intelligence officers as saying BAC was part of an Israeli front.
A government spokesman in Budapest said the company was “a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary”.
Japanese firm Icom said it had stopped producing the model of radios reportedly used in Wednesday’s blasts in Lebanon around 10 years ago.
Doha-based Qatar Airways has banned passengers from taking pagers and walkie-talkies on board flights across Lebanon.
Additional reporting by AFP
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