Exploding pagers belonging to Hezbollah kill at least 8 and injure more than 2,700 in Lebanon
Category: News & Politics
Via: perrie-halpern • 3 weeks ago • 122 commentsBy: Chantal Da Silva, Doha Madani and Raf Sanchez
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The militant group Hezbollah said Tuesday that pagers belonging to its members had blown up across Lebanon, killing at least eight people and injuring more than 2,700, according to the country's Health Ministry.
Iran-backed Hezbollah pinned the blame for the widespread and seemingly simultaneous blasts on Israel, without providing evidence. Israel did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the accusations and the explosions.
More than 200 people were in critical condition, the public health minister, Dr. Firas Abiad, told reporters. According to The Associated Press and Al Jazeera, officials updated the death toll after Abiad's news conference.
During the emergency, Lebanese officials ordered the public to avoid using handheld communication devices.
Mojtaba Amani, Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, was among the injured, according to the country's embassy. In a post on X, it described his injuries as "superficial" and added that he was in a good condition.
Hezbollah said in its a statement that explosions killed "a girl and two brothers."
It added that the blasts came from pagers belonging to "employees in various Hezbollah units and institutions."
One of those killed was Muhammad Mahdi, the son of Ali Ammar, a Hezbollah member of Parliament, according to the National News Agency, which is state-run.
Hezbollah says it has handed out pagers to members, many of whom stopped using cellphones out of fear that Israel could use them to track and monitor them.
"The ministry requests all citizens who own wireless communication devices to stay away from them until the truth of what is happening is revealed," the Health Ministry said, according to NNA.
It was unclear whether the explosions were part of a coordinated attack, which would represent a significant security breach for Hezbollah.
Matt Miller, a State Department spokesperson, told reporters at a briefing that the U.S. hadn't been aware of the "incident" in advance and was "gathering information" about the detonations.
Lebanon's Red Cross said it deployed 130 ambulances to respond to explosion injuries, with 170 more vehicles on standby. The country's civil emergency authority urged people to donate blood at hospitals "as soon as possible," state news reported.
Reuters reported that dozens of Hezbollah members were seriously wounded in Lebanon's south and in the southern suburbs of the capital, Beirut.
A Reuters journalist saw 10 Hezbollah members bleeding from wounds in the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, the agency said.It was unclear how many civilians were affected.
By late Tuesday afternoon local time, no one had taken responsibility for the explosions, some of which appeared to have been captured on closed-circuit TV video and shared on social media.
In a second statement, Hezbollah said it had reviewed "all the facts" and information and held Israel responsible for the explosions, which occurred a day after Israel announced a new war objective, fueling fears of a new military offensive in Lebanon.
Lebanon's foreign ministry condemned what it called an "Israeli cyber attack," adding that it would submit a complaint about the detonations to the U.N. Security Council.
"This dangerous and deliberate Israeli escalation is accompanied by Israeli threats to expand the scope of the war towards Lebanon on a large scale, and the intransigence of Israeli positions calling for more bloodshed, destruction and devastation," it said in a statement.
Former CIA Director John Brennan told NBC News that he believes the pagers had some kind of explosive in the hardware based in part on the scale and simultaneous nature of the attack. He speculated that the pagers were at some point intercepted and switched "for the ones that Hezbollah thought were going to be benign."
"All suspicion has to rest on Israel for being the responsible party," Brennan said.
He added that he believed Israel's intention was to send a message to Hezbollah of its capabilities to get to the militia inside Lebanon.
Israel has warned the U.S., its closest ally, that "military action" would most likely be the only way to address mounting hostilities with Hezbollah.
Late Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced that his security Cabinet had updated its list of war objectives to include the safe return of residents who have been displaced from their homes near the northern border because of months of fighting with Hezbollah.
"Israel will continue to act to implement this objective," the prime minister's office said.
Thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border since Israel began an offensive in Gaza following the Hamas-led Oct. 7 terrorist attacks. Hezbollah has vowed to continue attacks until Israel's assault on Gaza ends.
Israeli tensions with Hezbollah, a powerful militia and political party that formed in 1986 and rose to power after Israel invaded southern Lebanon in pursuit of Palestine Liberation Organization fighters, spiraled during the war in Gaza.
Last month, Israel struck Lebanon with what it said were pre-emptive strikes to prevent plans by Hezbollah to launch a widespread assault across the countries' shared border.
The attacks came weeks after Israel assassinated a top Hezbollah commander, Fouad Shukur. Hezbollah sought revenge by launching a drone attack on Israel's Glilot base, which is near Tel Aviv.
International diplomats, particularly those from the U.S. and France, have been working for months to de-escalate the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in an effort to contain the war in Gaza.
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I guess this topic, which has been posted 5 hours after I posted an article on the same topic, is important enough in order to, without evidence, without proof, accuse Israel much more strongly to have been the perpetrator. Not only is it blaming Israel for the pager explosions, it contains this paragraph, implying that Israel started the conflict with Hezbollah after Oct 7.
Since ISRAEL began?
Israel DID NOT START military actions against Lebanon after October 7, Hezbollah started firing missiles at Israel, as the paragraph indicates, to support Hamas and Israel RETALIATED. It did not START against Lebanon.
The bias is always there.
However, let us congratulate Israel on its ingenuity.
They killed Hezbollah operatives.
...and wounded many. Do you think Iran might get a little pissed off?
They better get used to it.
Iran is erpetually pissed off.
Its what their leaders do when they're not brutalizing women who don't dress "appropriately...or imprison, torture...even murder-- anyone criticaizing their barbaric regime.
It's a clever operation - likely beyond the motivation and ability of Larry in his basement. It gets difficult to navigate these threads where everyone is a shithouse lawyer in a vacuum, demanding proof that the sun actually shines.
And the lesson of the day is don't mess with the Mossad!
Slept with a gorgeous Jewish woman once back in Denver.
She took me to her house and we spent a blissful weekend.
She was married but said that they were "estranged".
She neglected to tell me that they were both Mossad.
She insisted that I park my Vette in the garage.
She insisted that I drive her 911 turbo. Damn we had fun!
Driving back to KC on I-70 I was "detained" at the border.
Not by cops but by FBI.
That was my first clue that my dick had screwed me again.
The FBI guys were very polite. They wanted me to stay.
They explained to me who she and her husband were.
They wanted me to gather Intel on the Mossad. I said NO!
Got back in the Vette and drove my ass home in record time.
Hid out camping with my AR-15 and surveillance gear for weeks after that. Finally went home and slept in my own bed (after doing a thorough bug search).
The moral of this story is be damn careful who you sleep with.
Your exploits are interesting to say the least. You really got around didn't you??
Perhaps Mossad wanted intel on the American rock scene.
That'll teach you what happens when you FUCK with the Israelis.
Morning... so you are convinced now it was Israel that had its fingers and hands all over this?
Not sure where the report came from the pagers were made in Taiwan and everyone was blaming Israel without proof..
Oh ye of little faith in Israel's capabilities..I never doubted it for a minute as I stated when the news broke... would love to know how they implemented the whole thing..
Now if Mossad can give some "handy hints" to Ukraine that would be even better...
You really do have to give it to the Israelis, ingenuity at its best..
Listening to NPR just now I heard that the negotiators said that this development is, "Very unhelpful"
Yep, we would have "Peace in our time" if Israel would just lay down its weapons. After all, it's just those troublemaking JOOZ.
This is the story of the day. I had my thunder stolen!
What a great story!
Unfortunately it's a "Neverending Story"
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Many of those killed or injured had to be innocent bystanders.
Buzz likes to snidely suggest I am anti-Israel which means the same thing as anti-semitic to him. He is totally wrong.
This retaliation by Israel , taken to Hollywood movie like heights, is not going to advance peace in the region one inch. They have now given Hezbollah a way to claim innocent people were targeted. And it continues the tit for tat modus of the entire situation. If they all want to have a war then have a war. This game playing is only going to stretch out the conflict into who knows when.
Buzz, do not put words in my mouth.
While it may have been a tricky thing to do, one has to ask questions about what motivated the use of this tactic at this particular time.
Perhaps threat of discovery.
I know you're not anti-Israel or anti-semitic. Any kind of criticisam towards Israel earns one the anti-Semite label from certain parties
Innocent people in Israel were targeted. 12 young people were killed. The Hezbollah members were the ones with the pagers, any other deaths or injuries is incidental and unfortunate.
This could have been avoided if Hezbollah had stayed out of the conflict.
The names and faces of the children slain in Hezbollah attack on Majdal Shams (ynetnews.com)
By not being a piece of shit terrorist.
And now, many of them will not be able to enjoy the delights of their promised 72 virgins, since their bits were blown to bits
Any lack of criticism towards the Palestinian terrorists, also known as Hamas, who started this war, could be interpreted as being anti-Semitic.
Hezbollah and Hamas literally target kids and other civilians to kill and rape. The IDF goes to extraordinary lengths, which often means increased IDF casualties, to avoid civilian casualties. They literally stopped an offensive to allow for vaccinations. That has to be unprecedented in war. Yet the Hamas sympathizers equate the two. That's anti-semitism in action.
I wish you guys would get this right. it's only one virgin and she's 72 years old.
Bullshit. Every criticism of Israel is not anti-semitism. We have been going through this false accusation for decades now.
If Israel's government was not entwined with the religious identity of the Israeli people no one could even try to make the argument you are trying.
If they weren’t entwined, there would be no Jewish homeland.
No kidding?
If the government of Israel cannot be criticized for their actions without accusations of anti-semitism then the government of Israel cannot be criticized.
Nice strawman.
Equating the conduct of the IDF to Hamas/Hezbollah is.
Where did I do that?
40,000 people in gaza are dead as a result of revenge for the deaths of 1200 people plus the hostages. Even if half the 40,000 were Hamas it is still completely disproportionate. Calling people anti-semitic does not change that fact.
Are the people within Israel who oppose the Netanyahu government anti-semitic ?
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The majority are dead because Hamas uses civilians as camouflage, doesn’t wear uniforms and doesn’t give a damn about the population they supposedly want to free.
Theyre dead because Israel has been bombing them for 10 months.
There dead because bombing Hamas means bombing the civilians Hamas hides behind.
Also falls into the category of perhaps Israel thinking outside the box with this tactic.
More like thinking inside the Trojan Horse, nothing new to it.
Now that's funny. The mental image of the not-soon-enough departed jihadist making this discovery in the afterlife... especially if she's a fourth wave feminist.
I haven't said anything about criticizing the Israeli government.
meh, you're a nobody here until that happens ...
... pretty sure that cavalier precedence has already been established.
Not sure if you're going to find many Hezbollah or Hamas terrorist with pagers or radios in the near future. They'll have to communicate via smoke signal.
sos different century
One of the problems with war is that innocent bystanders often get injured-- or even killed in the process.
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it's an abrahamic religion east of the atlantic, so you get all your parts back if you convert at the pearly gates...
The middle Eastern crisis has been a crisis for many decades now.
Fuck all fanatic Jews and Fuck all fanatic Arabs for putting this world into danger of a third world war!
It all comes down to ignorant fools who think that their god is better than the other guy's god.
Either that or it comes down to Putin eating Trump for lunch.
Kamala can stand up to Putin, Trump can't. Putin owns Trump.
I've always thought of putin as a shit eater...
Make no mistake, Putin is a mass murderer and the most evil person on the planet. Make no mistake, he is the genius that Donnie pretends to be.
The fact that he wants low IQ Donnie to be president should scare everybody.
Putin has never hidden the fact that he wants to own or destroy America.
Kamala knows Putin's game and will stand against him.
The pagers were distributed to Hezbollah, mostly militants, and some got into the hands of civilians. No point was made about there being many of them, only a few were reported and HAD there been "many" you can be sure a big deal would have been made of it. Has there ever been a war that did not have "Casualties of War"? The name of an American movie about a Casualty of War perpetrated by an American soldier. How do you feel about Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Tokyo and Dresden? At least Australia has declared Hezbollah a terrorist organization, and I have no sympathy for anyone who supports or even tolerates their existence. That goes for Gaza even more so.
Setting explosives off randomly in the midst of every day life, without warning, could be described as the definition of terrorism. In Gaza the population was warned.
There was a second round of explosions in Beirut today, killing 30 people including children.
People who think this is a solution to the conflict are out of their mind.
How do you describe major Hezbollah rocket barrages fired at Israeli civilians?
Are the Israelis supposed to be terrorists? I wasnt aware of that.
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the leadership of either side don't want peace as bad as the US does, so fuck them. turn off the foreign aid, open the US armament stores and jack up the prices, and then let the willing participants kill each other off for awhile. when those that sincerely want peace get tired of the carnage, they'll do something about it. if iran wants to jump in, put their infrastructure into the stone age with 96 hours of cruise missiles and then drop a few containers of small arms and ammo for the only courageous citizens left in iran, the women...
So you still don't put any blame for this war on the party that started it. Namely, Hamas, soon assisted by Hezbollah??
"Namely, Hamas, soon assisted by Hetzbollah."...
And stage managed as well as largely financed by Iran.
I'm sure decades of occupation, 2nd class citizen status, violence against palestinians, stolen land, destroyed property, illegal settlements, and the recent annexation of even more west bank land had nothing to do with it ...
it didn't-- not with the attacks on Israel on its Northern border-- started by Hizb'Allah (a proxy for Iran.
That border (like the attacks Yemenize Houthis in Yemen) started because of the War in Gaza.
(In fact both Hizb'Allah as the Houthis in Yemen have said their attacks on shipping are because of the war in Gaza-- and they will stop when there's a peaceful ceasefire & Israeli withdrawal from Gaza).
And BTW , while I'm no fan of Hizb'Allah or Iran-- I believe them. Iran is conflicted--they really don't want a bigger war-- they wish it would calm down.
But OTOH they have to make a show of supporting the "Palestinians".
"-they don't really want a bigger war-..."
Problem with is that the Ayotollah and ruling mullah's are so radical and fanatical in their religious fervor. Imo, they are so convinced that Allah would never let them lose, whatever the cost to themselves or others.
Might just be time to lay the cards down on the table.
Not looking forward to WWlll but that would be better than another Trump presidency.
Whatcha got?
When it comes to politics, I always have a royal flush.
Flush sounds right.
I find it hard to believe that so-called intelligent members of NT have agreed that Israel is considered to be and should be treated no different than declared terrorists, by voting up comment 2.2. Actually, not ALL who voted up 2.2 who I believe are sadly misled by propaganda.
Preaching to hypocrites is a useless endeavour.
I’ve noticed that the Biden Administration hasn’t criticized this attack and Candidate Kamala has been silent.
Their religion tells them, and all devout Muslims, as the Koran commands, to find the Jews and kill them, as the Day of Judgement will not come until they have fought the Jews and killed them. I can prove that if need be. Doesn't everyone realize why they joyfully carry out suicide bombings? That will send them to the Garden of Allah where they will be entitled to deflower 72 virgins and sojourn with them there for all eternity.
Someone here talks about Palestinians being considered second class citizens. I'd rather be a second class citizen than the target of someone whose religion commands them to kill me.
I am sick and tired of you implying that anyone who criticizes Israel is anti-semitic. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Or they might be agreeing to letting Israel go after those who attacked Israel without being held back. Or agreeing with the last sentance of comment 2.2
Not ANYONE, but I believe SOME. Because why else would one consider Israel responsible for what is happening?
Oh, and for the record, although I tried smoking a pipe when I went to university I hated it. So I'm not able to comply with your command.
Do you?
Let Israel go as far and fast as they can to solve the problems,
I believe they're doing their best. Unfortunately, they've already lost hundreds of soldiers, and just recently the first female IDF one.
Be careful what you wish for.
flag him the next time he does it
To both you and your poodle....
what a jerk off comment...
I bet everybody is happy Biden sent Iran all that money.
How did the negotiators characterize the recent Hezbollah rocket launches at Israeli towns?
counter annexation PSA's... /s
The Israeli military declined to comment Tuesday on whether it was responsible for the attack.
What a humble, little country.
That's standard policy-- they often don't claim responsibility/
Its no secret Israel has had nukes-- for many years. But when asked whether or not they have nukes they refuse to say yes-- or no!
Seems sort of silly any informed person has known that for a while they have them.
I haven't been following that for a while-- maybe now they've admitted they have nukes and I didn't notice it.
Little?
(Arab world shown in Yellow, Israel in Purple)
Little,yes.
Humble no.
(When they finally re-established their ancient homeland as an ancient country, Israelis have been known not to be particuklarly humble!)
Actually that map is slightly inaccurate-- because it show Israel as being bigger than it is.
It showsc not only Israel but also Gaza in Purple (the map was made long ago, when Israel occupied Gaza-- even building settlements there. They have since moved out.
It also show occupied West Bank in Purple-- it status is subject to negotiation.
The Muslim population is ~1.9 billion. There are 57 majority Muslim countries.
The Jewish population is ~15.7 million. There is 1 majority Jewish country, about the size of New Jersey.
For many here and around the world, that is 1 too many.
Really? I havent seen anybody here call for the end of Israel. [removed][✘]
You're just out of the loop.
What loop do you mean?
The loop where nobody trusts you.
Every administration that ever came down the pike has promised to end the conflict in the middle East.
Never happen. The racial/religious hate runs too deep.
With any luck the rest of the world will pass on getting even more involved. It's a lose, lose, lose situation.
Fuck all religious fanatics! This world has enough geographical problems without adding mythology and superstition into the mix
Bad things happened to the enemy
The Israeli-Lebanese border had been quiet-- the fightinging only erupted when Hizb'Allah started firing rockets over the border-- aimed at Israeli towns.
And according to so many in the rest of the world, and even some on this site, it's all Israel's fault, just as Oct 7 was Israel's fault and for sure, the deaths of Gazan civilians is all Israel's fault. They ignore the reasons that so much collateral damage is IN FACT the Hamas militant's fault. Everyone is screaming at the IDF about the deaths of so many civilians, and NOBODY is demanding the Hamas militants stop contravening all the humanitarian rules of war that is the REAL reason so many civilians are dead or injured and the UN is silent about the PROVEN complicity of UNRWA. I know why, don't YOU, especially if they're blaming Israel?
Bad things will always happen to my enemies.
Karma is a real thingy.
And the bleeding hearts are blooming....
Beautiful flowers. What are they?
Has to be one of the greatest espionage triumphs in history. Just brilliant work.
When I first heard the story I was amazed-- how could they had put explosives in such small devices-- and so many of them?
Bob Dylan knows.. "With God on its side"
C4 is old school. Modern explosives really go bang.
It belongs in the class with The Trojan Horse.
Now we know that the Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon is affiliated with Hezbollah.
Who woulda thunk it!
From Wikipedia:
Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group, [ 44 ] [ 45 ] led since 1992 by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, [ 46 ] and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. Its armed strength was assessed to be equivalent to that of a medium-sized army in 2016. [ 47 ]
It adopted the model set out by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, and the party's founders adopted the name "Hezbollah" as chosen by Khomeini. Since then, close ties have developed between Iran and Hezbollah.
Hizballah means "Party of Allah". They are Lebanese but closely allied with Iran as Iran and many Lebanese belong to the Shia branch of Islam.
As such Iran has had conflicts with Saudi Arabia who are mostly equally fanatical but belong to the Sunni branch of Islam.
Most Arab countries are predominantly Sunni...
Nicely researched, but it's not that simple.
Funny how war will fool you about the good and the bad.
A new round of explosions as terrorist pieces of shits walkie-talkies are exploding at funerals for terrorist blown up by pagers, Hezbollah now in the market for cans and string.
The string will be a fuse that sets off a can of C-4.
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I wash surprised at the inital attack with Pagers-- even more surprised at this attack with Walkie-talkies.
If Iran & Hizb'Allah were more rational they would make peace with Israel-- but of course that won't happen.
They would have to rewrite the Koran for that to happen, and I wouldn't bet on THAT likelihood.