More devices are blowing up in Lebanon a day after Hezbollah pagers fatally exploded
REUTERS/Hassan Hankir
- More explosions were reported across Lebanon on Wednesday.
- Reports indicated that handheld radios blew up.
- These explosions follow deadly blasts Tuesday when pagers belonging to Hezbollah members exploded.
Handheld radios exploded across Lebanon on Wednesday, according to multiple reports, signaling a second wave of coordinated attacks targeting personal devices in the Middle Eastern country.
The official broadcaster of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, Al-Manar, reported a wave of explosions from wireless devices across Lebanon, according to local and international media.
The Lebanese Red Cross said dozens of ambulance teams were responding to explosions nationwide. Several people are dead and hundreds more injured, The Associated Press reported, with the number of casualties likely to rise as the scope of the carnage becomes clearer.
The explosions follow a similar series of explosions Tuesday in which scores of pagers used by Hezbollah members simultaneously detonated across Lebanon. At least a dozen people were killed, and thousands more were left injured by the blasts.
A security-service source told Reuters the devices that detonated on Wednesday — handheld radios, or walkie-talkies — were purchased several months ago, about the same time as the pagers that exploded on Tuesday.
One video circulating on social media Wednesday appeared to show an explosion at a funeral for Hezbollah members who were killed the day prior.
Hezbollah and Lebanon both blamed the Tuesday explosions on Israel, which has not claimed responsibility. Israel has a long history of clandestine operations beyond its borders, targeting Iran and its regional proxy network.
The apparent attack came shortly after Israel indicated that it would increase military pressure on Hezbollah so that people in the north of the country who had been displaced by months of fighting between the two bitter enemies could return home.
Hezbollah has vowed revenge for the explosions this week, threatening to plunge the embattled region into even more violence.