More electronic devices detonated in Lebanon today. This time, it was exploding walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members, killing over a dozen and injuring hundreds. While Lebanon’s government attributed yesterday’s pager explosions to faulty batteries, reports suggest that both incidents were part of a coordinated attack.
Israel allegedly behind recent pager and walkie-talkie attacks in Lebanon
Today marks the second day that electronic communication devices belonging to Hamas have violently exploded. Dozens of walkie-talkies detonated in Lebanon, and according to CNN, at least 14 died, and over 450 were injured. However, the final casualty count will likely be higher once the chaos subsides.
CNN claims that Israel was behind the attacks and that they were a joint operation between the country’s intelligence service, Mossad, and the Israeli military.
Hezbollah had recently stopped using cell phones after a string of assassinations rocked the organization. The group equipped itself with pagers in the hopes they couldn’t be tracked. However, according to The New York Times, Israel gained access to the shipments of pagers headed for Lebanon and implanted explosives to each one. When a certain message was sent to the pagers, they detonated.
While the amount of explosives in each pager and walkie-talkie was minuscule, it was more than enough to injure or kill the person carrying the device severely.
In a news conference in Cairo, Egypt, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken stated that the United States “did not know about nor was it involved in these incidents.” Blinken went on to recommend de-escalation between the involved parties.
At the same conference, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty warned that attacks could lead to the Middle East moving to “the edge of comprehensive regional war.”
In the wake of the attacks, Hezbollah vowed to retaliate. The Lebanese government also condemned the attacks and called Israel’s actions “criminal.”
