“Eight people were killed and nearly 2,750 others injured” in the explosion on Tuesday, September 17, of pagers belonging to members of Hezbollah in Lebanon, announced Health Minister Firass Abiad at a press conference. L’Express takes stock of what we know.
What happened?
The pagers, a radio paging system, exploded simultaneously in several Lebanese regions where the pro-Iranian group is based. According to the Minister of Health, most of the victims were injured “in the face, hand, stomach and even eyes.”
“Hundreds of Hezbollah members were injured by the simultaneous explosion of their pagers” in the southern suburbs of Beirut, in southern Lebanon and in the eastern Bekaa plain, all strongholds of the Islamist group, a source close to the party said.
A source close to Hezbollah said it was an “Israeli hack.” It was the first such incident since violence broke out between the pro-Iranian group and Israel nearly a year ago. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the reports.
What human toll?
The Lebanese Health Ministry reported eight deaths and nearly 2,750 injured. An AFP correspondent in the Bekaa saw wounded patients pouring into hospitals in the region. Another in the southern Lebanese city of Saida reported dozens of ambulances arriving at hospitals. Several witnesses saw ambulances transporting wounded patients to the southern suburbs, where hospitals called for blood donations. At the private American Hospital of Beirut (AUBMC), one of the capital’s largest, an AFP photographer saw dozens of ambulances transporting wounded patients. The Health Ministry called on “all health professionals to immediately go to their workplaces to contribute to emergency care for the large number of wounded” and launched an “appeal for coordination with the Lebanese Red Cross to organize blood donations.”
Iranian ambassador to Beirut Mojtaba Amani was injured in a pager explosion, Iranian state television reported. “He told us a few minutes ago that he was fine, conscious and there was no danger to him,” the television added, without specifying whether the pager, a paging system, belonged to him. Among the dead was the son of a pro-Iranian MP, according to a source close to the party.
What does Hezbollah say?
Hezbollah said in a statement that it was investigating the “simultaneous” explosion of the pagers, a radio messaging system used by the Islamist group, without blaming Israel. The official National News Agency (ANI) reported an “unprecedented security incident that occurred in the southern suburbs of Beirut as well as in many Lebanese regions,” attributing it to the Israeli “enemy.” It added that “the pager system was hacked using high technology.” Hezbollah had asked its members to stop using mobile phones to avoid Israeli hacking. The powerful party has set up a pager system through which its members are called to join their units.
The day after the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, triggered by an attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7 on Israeli soil, Hezbollah opened the southern Lebanese front to support its Palestinian ally. The cross-border violence has since left 627 dead in Lebanon, most of them fighters but also at least 141 civilians, according to an AFP report. On the Israeli side, the authorities have announced the deaths of at least 24 soldiers and 26 civilians.