New Delhi: At least one person was killed and over a hundred were injured in a fresh wave of explosions across Lebanon as hand-held radios or walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members detonated Wednesday afternoon.
This comes a day after nearly 3,000 Hezbollah-ordered pagers simultaneously detonated across Lebanon, killing at least eight people and a child, and wounding nearly 3,000 including Hezbollah fighters and Iran’s envoy to Beirut.
According to witnesses, multiple explosions were seen across the country Wednesday, including at a funeral of three Hezbollah members and a child who were killed in Tuesday’s attack, allegedly carried out by Israel, the AP reported.
Multiple media reports said the attacks on Wednesday were due to detonation of the hand-held radio systems operated by Hezbollah. According to Al-Manaar, Hezbollah’s news outlet, multiple wireless communication devices detonated across various regions in Lebanon.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement Wednesday that the simultaneous detonation of electronic devices violates international human rights law and called for de-escalation of the situation in West Asia.
“Simultaneous targeting of thousands of individuals, whether civilians or members of armed groups, without knowledge as to who was in possession of the targeted devices, their location and their surroundings at the time of the attack, violates international human rights law and, to the extent applicable, international humanitarian law,” said Türk.
Iranian ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani was injured in the previous day’s attack. According to reports, Amani was seriously injured with possible eye damage and his pager beeped for several seconds before detonating.
Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah purchased around 5,000 pagers after targeted strikes by Israel killed senior commanders during the ongoing conflict in Gaza. In February this year, Hezbollah had banned mobile phones due to concerns of the devices being surveilled by Israel’s sophisticated security apparatus. Israel’s spy agency Mossad, according to reports, was able to place small amounts of explosive material injected as a board inside the electronic pagers. A message sent on the one-way communications device, after which it detonated.
The attack on Hezbollah’s low-technology communication system left the militant outfit reeling, especially as it is considered the best equipped of militant groups in the region backed by Tehran.
The electronic pagers were said to be branded as Gold Apollo, but were manufactured by a Hungary-based company BAC, according to a statement made by the Taiwanese company.
The US had denied knowledge of Tuesday’s attack, with US State Department spokesperson Matther Miller making it clear that Washington D.C. was not aware of the attacks in advance.
The two days of attacks on Hezbollah’s communications systems are a significant escalation. While Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged fire since October 2023, it has remained primarily in the border regions.
Nearly 1,50,000 people have been displaced in the border regions between Lebanon and Israel. Tel Aviv has made it clear one of its war objectives is the return of its people to the border regions, following which the attacks were seen across Lebanon.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
Kudos to Mossad.
Wish RAW and IB were half as competent.