Nine people have been killed and thousands have been seriously injured after pagers exploded in Lebanon, the country’s health minister has said.
Firas Abiad said 200 of the 2,750 wounded were in a critical condition.
In a statement, Hezbollah said three people had died in the explosions, including two fighters and one girl.
Lebanese information minister Ziad Makary laid the blame directly on “Israeli aggression”, while Hezbollah has promised to retaliate insisting Israel would receive “its fair punishment” for the blasts.
The Israeli military, which has been engaged in cross-border fighting with Hezbollah since the start of the Gaza war, has refused to respond to questions about the detonations.
A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters news agency the detonation of the pagers was the “biggest security breach” the group has faced in nearly a year of war with Israel.
People gather outside a hospital in Beirut to check on the injured. Pic: Reuters
According to AP, a Hezbollah official said that at least 150 people, including members of the group, were wounded in different parts of Lebanon when the devices exploded.
Other reports have cited varying figures of how many are injured.
Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was also said to have been injured by the explosion of a pager according to Iran’s Mehr news agency.
How could the pagers explode?
There has been widespread speculation about what caused the pagers to explode. Experts broadly agree that the blasts do not look like a typical lithium battery fire.
Keren Elazari, a hacker and security researcher at Tel Aviv University, told Sky News: “There is no remote hacking capability that could generate that kind of kinetic explosion… some sort of a physical explosive component was probably part of the equation.”
Huge crowds gather outside a hospital in Beirut amid the explosions – it isn’t yet clear how many people were injured. Pic: Reuters
Police officers inspect a car where a pager exploded in Beirut.
Pic: AP
What is Hezbollah?
Hezbollah is one of the most heavily armed non-state groups in the world and forms part of the government in Lebanon, with dozens of MPs in parliament.
It is deemed a terrorist organisation by many, including some Western governments, and has played a significant role in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, exchanging fire with Israel since last October in parallel with the war.
A Hezbollah official told AP that the pagers which exploded had apparently been deployed after the group’s leader ordered its members to stop using mobile phones, warning they could be tracked by Israeli intelligence.
A Reuters journalist saw ambulances rushing through the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital Beirut amid widespread panic.
They also reported that, at Mt Lebanon hospital, motorcycles raced to the emergency room carrying people with severely injured and bloodied hands.
Residents said explosions were taking place even 30 minutes after the initial blasts.
Pic: Reuters
An ambulance pictured in Sidon, Lebanon, amid the incident. Pic: Reuters
Large crowds were pictured outside hospitals as ambulances transported the injured.
Groups of people huddled at the entrance of buildings to check on the well-being of those they knew who may have been wounded, the Reuters journalist said.
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The security source said devices were also exploding in the south of Lebanon.
Lebanon’s health ministry called on hospitals to be on alert to take in emergency patients and for people who own pagers to get away from them.
It also asked health workers to avoid using wireless devices.
AP said their photographers had seen hospital emergency rooms overloaded with patients, many with limb injuries and some in serious conditions.
US denies involvement
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the United States was not involved in the incidents and did not know who was responsible.
Speaking about the wider conflict in the region, he added: “We are always concerned about any type of event that may cause further escalation.”
