Attacks reported in Lebanon Murdered Eight people were killed and more than 2,700 were injured. Hundreds of pagers belonging to Hezbollah members exploded simultaneously on Tuesday, an attack the Iranian-backed militant group blamed on Israel.
The leaders of Israel Warned As the military escalated its operations against Hezbollah, a pager belonging to a member of the group in Lebanon suddenly exploded, with witnesses reporting smoke coming from the victim’s pocket and followed by sounds that sounded like fireworks or gunfire.
Lebanon’s health minister said 200 of the injured were in serious condition. He added that many of the victims suffered injuries to the face, especially the eyes. He said there were also many injuries to the hands and abdomen. Iranian state media said the injured included Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amini.
The New York Times say The Israeli military declined to comment.
It is unclear how the perpetrators planned and executed the attack, nor whether the pagers were physically tampered with or if the attack was somehow carried out using software, the latter of which, while seemingly far-fetched, could spark widespread panic about the safety of battery-powered mobile devices. The New York Times According to reports, some Lebanese residents were afraid to use the telephone after the attacks, with one yelling at callers to “hang up! Hang up!”
Times Hezbollah has long been suspicious of cell phone use near the Israeli border because of their geolocation capabilities, but has reportedly recently switched from cell phones to pagers. In February, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah reportedly warned Hezbollah that cell phones were dangerous and could be used by Israel as espionage tools. He advised Hezbollah to “destroy or bury” their cell phones.
Experts reportedly still don’t know exactly how the pagers were distributed to Hezbollah members, but they say Iran, which has a history of providing weapons, technology and other military assistance to Hezbollah, likely played a key role in their introduction and distribution.
