At least eight people were killed and 2,750 including fighters of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and medics were injured on Tuesday when the handheldpagers they used to communicate exploded across Lebanon. Health minister Firass Abiad said that 200 blast victims are in critical condition. A Hezbollah official called the detonation of the pagers the "biggest security breach" the group had been subjected to in nearly a year of war with Israel, news agency Reuters reported.
The Lebanese government is blaming Israel for the pager blasts. Lebanon’s information minister has also condemned "Israeli aggression", Reuters reported.
Although Hezbollah initially did not blame Israel for the blasts, it has now held Israeli army "fully responsible for this criminal aggression". It also said in a statement that Israel "will certainly receive its just punishment for this sinful aggression", news agency AFP reported.
Earlier, Hezbollah, in a statement, said that three people, including two of its members and a ten-year-old girl, have been killed in the incident of simultaneous detonations of pagers, Al Jazeera reported.
"A 10-year-old girl was martyred in the Bekaa Valley after her father’s pager exploded while he was next to her," AFP reported, citing her relatives.
Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani also reportedly sustained injuries in the explosions. He is "conscious and in no danger", Iran's Mehr news agency reported.
The pagers that exploded were the latest model that Hezbollah had brought in recent months, the report noted citing security sources. The wave of detonations lasted nearly for an hour after the initial explosions, which took place at around 3:45 p.m. local time (1345 GMT). However, it remains unclear as to how the devices were detonated.
Ever since the Gaza conflict erupted last year, Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah have been engaged in cross-border warfare amid the worst escalation in recent years.
The Reuters report stated that ambulances were being rushed through the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, amid widespread panic. Injured people were also seen rushing to the emergency room with their bloodied hands, screaming in pain. According to a security source, devices also exploded in the south of Lebanon.
Hassan Wazni, the head of a the Nabatieh public hospital located in the southern Lebanon, told Reuters that almost 40 wounded people were being treated at the facility. They had sustained injuries to the eyes, face, and limbs.
The report cited Lebanese internal security forces saying that several wireless communication devices exploded across Lebanon, especially in Beirut's southern suburbs, causing injuries.
Visuals of the explosions have surfaced on social media. In a CCTV footage, a small handheld device placed next to a grocery store cashier exploded spontaneously as a customer was paying.
In other CCTV footage, a person was knocked out after an explosion. He was standing at a fruit stand in a market area when the incident occurred.
Lebanon’s crisis operations center, managed by the health ministry, directed all the medics to reach their respective hospitals and provide assistance in coping with the massive numbers of injured arriving for urgent attention and care. They have been advised to not use pagers, Reuters reported.
Following the incident, over 50 ambulances and 300 emergency medical staff were dispatched to help in the evacuation of victims, the Lebanese Red Cross said.
After the October 7 attacks by Hamas gunmen on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, Hezbollah had immediately fired missiles at Israel. Since then, Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire constantly, while preventing a major escalation.