On September 17, 2024, as cross-border tensions between Israel and Hezbollah militants continued, explosions occurred in several Hezbollah strongholds around Lebanon, and an ambulance took the injured to a hospital in Beirut.
Anwar Amro | AFP | Getty Images
Pagers used by hundreds of members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded almost simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday, killing at least nine people, including an 8-year-old girl, and injuring thousands more, officials said. They accused Israel of launching what appeared to be a sophisticated long-range attack.
Among those injured was the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon. A mysterious incident occurred in Tensions rise The conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has been fighting on the Israeli-Lebanese border since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack sparked fighting. Gaza War.
The exploding pager was made by Hezbollah The group’s leader ordered members to stop using their phones, warning they could be tracked by Israeli intelligence. A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press that the pagers were a new brand the group had never used before.
Around 3:30 pm local time on Tuesday, the pagers began to heat up and then explode in the pockets and hands of those carrying them – specifically in the southern suburbs of Beirut and the Bekaa area of ​​eastern Lebanon, where Hezbollah has a strong presence, Lebanese security officials and a Hezbollah officials said several Hezbollah members were wounded in Damascus. The Hezbollah official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The Israeli military declined to comment when contacted by The Associated Press. The explosion came hours after Israel’s internal security agencies said they foiled an attempt by Hezbollah to kill a former senior Israeli security official using a planted explosive device that could be detonated remotely.
Experts said the pager explosions showed a premeditated operation, although the exact methods were unclear. Investigators did not immediately know how the pagers detonated or whether explosives were somehow smuggled into each pager.
On September 17, 2024, an ambulance took the injured to a hospital in Saida, a city in southern Lebanon.
Mahmoud Zayat | AFP | Getty Images
Regardless of the method used, it targeted such a wide range of people that wherever the pager was, hundreds of small explosions would occur simultaneously, injuring some people.
A video circulating online showed a man selecting produce at a grocery store when the bag he was carrying exploded, causing him to fall to the ground and onlookers running away. An Associated Press photographer at a local hospital said emergency rooms were packed with patients. Some had hands missing, or pieces of their legs blown off near their pockets.
Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad said the explosion killed at least nine people, including an 8-year-old girl, and injured 2,750 people, 200 of whom were seriously injured. Most suffered injuries around the face, hands or abdomen.
Hezbollah said in a statement that two of its members were among the victims. An unnamed Hezbollah official identified one of the dead as Mahdi Ammar, the son of a Hezbollah member of the Lebanese parliament.
“We hold Israel’s enemies fully responsible for this criminal aggression against civilians,” Hezbollah said, adding that Israel “will certainly receive a just punishment.”
Iran’s state-run Islamic News Agency said the country’s ambassador, Mojtaba Amani, was slightly injured when a pager exploded and was currently receiving treatment in the hospital.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has previously warned members of the group not to carry mobile phones, saying they could be used by Israel to track their movements and carry out targeted attacks.
Alex Prisas, a weapons expert at the Atlantic Council, said images seen Tuesday showed signs of an explosion. “Lithium-ion battery fires are one thing, but I’ve never seen anything explode like this. It looked like a small explosive,” Plisas said.
He said that raised the possibility that Israel knew there was a shipment of pagers destined for Hezbollah and managed to modify the pagers before delivery.
Yehoshua Kalisky, a scientist and senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Research, a Tel Aviv think tank, said another possibility is that an electronic pulse “came from a distance and burned out the equipment and triggered an explosion.” “This was not a random act; this was deliberate and well known.”
Lebanese army soldiers stand guard near a hospital (not pictured) in Beirut on September 17, 2024, as cross-border tensions between Israel and Hezbollah militants continued following explosions in several Hezbollah strongholds around Lebanon.
Anwar Amro | AFP | Getty Images
Israel has a long history of deadly operations behind enemy lines.
In January, senior Hamas official Saleh Arouri was killed in an airstrike on a Beirut apartment building that was blamed on Israel. In July, Israel assassinated Hezbollah’s top commander in another airstrike. Hours later, Hamas supreme leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in a mysterious explosion in Iran that was also blamed on Israel.
Israel has used booby-trapped cellphones to kill Hamas militants in the past and is widely believed to be behind the 2010 Stuxnet computer virus attack that targeted Iran’s nuclear program.
Tuesday’s explosion comes amid rising tensions between Lebanon and Israel. Hezbollah and Israeli forces have clashed almost daily for more than 11 months, amid a war in Gaza between Israel and Hezbollah’s ally Hamas, which is also backed by Iran.
The conflict has killed hundreds in Lebanon and dozens in Israel, and displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the border. On Tuesday, Israel said it had now halted Hezbollah attacks in the north and allowed residents to return to their homes. official war objectives.
