Lebanon: Hezbollah mobile device explosions again

According to authorities, at least 20 people have died and 450 have been injured in renewed explosions involving numerous electronic devices in Lebanon. As on the previous day, many members of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah are said to have been affected, according to Lebanese security sources.

Already on Tuesday, hundreds of pagers exploded simultaneously in several places in Lebanon. Around 2,800 people were injured and at least twelve people were killed. Hezbollah blamed Israel for the attacks and vowed retaliation. Israel itself did not comment on the attack.

Sources close to Hezbollah said the two waves of explosions were “the hardest blow” Israel has ever dealt the organization. In view of the situation, the UN Security Council plans to hold an emergency meeting on Friday. Meanwhile, Israel’s Defense Minister Joav Galant announced a “new phase” of the war with a focus on the north.

Panic at a funeral

The second wave of explosions hit Lebanon in the late afternoon. While funerals for the victims of the previous day were being held in a southern Beirut suburb, reports of new explosions came in. Hezbollah sources said that “wireless devices such as walkie-talkies” had exploded.

Videos on social media show panic spreading during the funeral ceremony after bangs were heard. Senior Hezbollah official Hashim Safieddine said in response to the previous day’s exploded pagers: “This aggression has its own punishment and retribution, and the punishment will come.”

Many shops in Hezbollah-controlled areas damaged

Sounds of explosions were also heard in the southern port city of Tyre. An AP photographer in the southern coastal city of Sidon saw a car and a cell phone shop damaged after devices exploded inside. Lebanon’s civil defense said its teams were deployed in the south and east of the country and in the southern suburbs of Beirut to extinguish fires in cars, shops and other buildings. These areas are mainly controlled by Hezbollah.

Iran’s rescue services want to fly out 95 injured people after the explosions in Lebanon. Most of the wounded, who are to be taken to Iranian hospitals, have suffered injuries to their hands and eyes, said the head of the Red Crescent Society, Pirhussein Koliwand. Iran had previously sent doctors and nurses to Lebanon.

The Lebanese government said it was preparing for a possible major Israeli attack. The head of the government’s emergency committee, Nasser Yassin, told the Lebanese news agency NNA: “We have presented possible scenarios in the event of extensive Israeli attacks.” The Ministry of Education has presented a list of emergency shelters. Food reserves in Lebanon are sufficient for more than three months.

UN Secretary-General sees signs of “dramatic escalation” in Lebanon

UN Secretary-General António Guterres sees the explosions as evidence of a massive impending escalation in the Middle East. “The logic behind exploding all this equipment is, of course, to do this as a preemptive strike before a major military operation,” Guterres said in New York.

The UN Human Rights Office had already condemned the first attack allegedly coordinated by Israel as “shocking.” It violated international human rights standards to carry out an attack on thousands of people simultaneously without knowing who had the device with them at the time of the attack or where the person was.

Mutual shelling at the border continues

Since the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian Hamas, Israeli border troops have been engaged in short skirmishes with the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon on an almost daily basis. Due to the shelling with grenades and rockets as well as the drone attacks, thousands of Israelis have left the border region and are living in makeshift accommodation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised just a few days ago to create the conditions for the return of the displaced people.

There was also mutual shelling on Wednesday. Israel’s army reported that more than 30 missiles had been fired from Lebanon towards Israel. The Lebanese state agency NNA reported several Israeli attacks on locations in southern Lebanon.

Israel’s Defense Minister Joav Galant has already announced a “new phase” of the war. The focus is on the front in the north, where the army is fighting with Hezbollah, several media reported, citing Galant’s office. Forces and resources are to be shifted to the north, Israeli media quoted Galant as saying.

Transparency note: This article is continuously updated.