An attack in Lebanon reportedly killed eight people and injured over 2,700. Hundreds of pagers belonging to Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously on Tuesday, leading the Iran-backed militant organization to blame Israel.
A day after Israeli leaders warned of escalating its military campaign against Hezbollah, pagers belonging to the Lebanese group’s members exploded at once. Witnesses reported seeing smoke emanating from the victims’ pockets, followed by sounds reminiscent of fireworks or gunshots.
Lebanon’s health minister said 200 of the injured were in critical condition. He added that many victims had facial injuries, especially to the eyes. Hand and stomach injuries were also common, according to the health minister. Among those wounded was Mojtaba Amini, Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, according to Iranian state media.
The New York Times says Israel’s military declined to comment.
It’s unclear how the perpetrators orchestrated or carried out the attacks. It’s also unknown whether the pagers were tampered with physically or if the attacks were somehow carried out using software. The latter, as far-fetched as it sounds, could lead to widespread panic about the safety of any battery-containing mobile devices. NYT reports some in Lebanon were scared to use their phones after the attacks, with one resident crying out, “Please hang up, hang up!” to their caller.
The Times reports that Hezbollah, long suspicious of cellphone use near the Israeli border due to the devices’ geolocation capabilities, recently switched from mobile phones to pagers. In February, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah reportedly warned the group that their phones were dangerous and could be used by Israel as spy tools. He advised the group that they should “break or bury them.”
Experts reportedly don’t yet know precisely how the pagers were distributed to Hezbollah’s members. They say that Iran, given its history of supplying Hezbollah with arms, tech and other military aid, would have been pivotal to their adoption and delivery.
