Hours after a series of pager explosions claimed at least 12 lives and injured over 2,500 others on Tuesday, 20 more people were killed in a second set of blasts — where walkie talkies and solar equipment exploded — which rocked Lebanon on Wednesday.
As per an Associated Press report, citing the Lebanese Health Ministry, more than 450 people were injured on Wednesday.
The second set of explosions followed a similar patters as blasts were reported from several parts of the Middle Eastern country, including Beirut, the national capital.
Simultaneous Pager blast of 2500+ Hezbollah terrorists have put #Lebanon on Chaos. Have to say the Israel intelligence agency #Mossad is the most efficient intelligence agency in the world and nobody can match their intelligence. #Pager #pagers https://t.co/GZ2ZdPzBwd
— प्रकाश नारायण द्विवेदी हिंदू (@PrakashD22) September 17, 2024
Blasts took place at the funeral of several Hezbollah members — who were killed the day before during the first set of blasts on Tuesday — in the capital city. A mobile phone shop and a car in Sidon were destroyed by a blast, the report said. In another incident, a solar installation blew up following a blast, resulting in the injury of a girl.
Also read: Pager blasts kill at least 9, injure 2,800 in Lebanon; Hezbollah blames Israel
While the Hezbollah has not commented on the Wednesday incident, both Lebanon and the militant outfit held Israel responsible for the Tuesday attack. Lebanon’s Information Minister Ziad Makary said the detonation of the pagers was an “Israeli aggression”. Hezbollah warned Israel of “fair punishment”.
Hezbollah also called the Tuesday explosion the “biggest security breach” the group has faced since the conflict with Israel started in October 2023.
After pager blasts, fresh explosions in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah.
— Abhijit Majumder (@abhijitmajumder) September 18, 2024
Radios, TVs, fingerprint machines, solar devices…everything is exploding.
This may take them back to the Medieval Age they so fervently cherish.#LebanonBlast pic.twitter.com/pChvg9PpnG
The outfit informed that the attack killed two of its members. As per reports, the first blast took place around 3:45 pm local time. The series of explosions lasted around an hour.
Reports have pointed at a Mossad hand in the blasts. The Israeli spy agency planted explosives in the devices before they were imported into Lebanon and mostly used by members of militant group Hezbollah.
The New York Times has said citing unnamed officials from the US that Mossad planted ‘as little as one to two ounces’ (about 60 grams) of explosive materials next to Lithium batteries of the AR-294 pagers manufactured under the brand name of a Taiwanese company named Gold Apollo.
The Hezbollah, said the NYT, had placed an order for these pagers from Gold Apollo. The news outlet also reported that a switch was also embedded in the pagers so that explosions can be triggered remotely.
Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated on October 8, 2023, following a barrage of rockets launched by Hezbollah toward Israel in solidarity with Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023. Israel retaliated by launching attacks toward southeastern Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announced that Israel is at “the beginning of a new stage of the war” against Hezbollah. Speaking to his country’s soldiers on Wednesday, Gallant said, “We are at the start of a new phase in the war — it requires courage, determination and perseverance.”
