People lined up to donate blood after pager explosions targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon killed at least 12 people, including two children, and injured thousands. Photo by Wael Hamzeh/EPA-EFE
Sept. 18 (UPI) — Hezbollah communication device explosions in Lebanon on Wednesday killed at least 20 people and wounded more than 450 others, after 12 people were killed and more than 2,800 were hurt in a similar pager attack that targeted the Iran proxy militia in the Middle Eastern country a day prior.
The Lebanon-based Hezbollah said the new attacks targeted their walkie-talkies. A senior security source with Hezbollah said the “small” explosions were similar to the pager attacks. The explosions sent first responders throughout the country scrambling to treat and transport to hospitals those involved.
While no one has claimed responsibility for the two days of device attacks, Hezbollah has blamed Israel. Hezbollah and Israel have been involved in tit-for-tat attacks across the southern Lebanese border since Israel’s war with Hamas, another Iran-backed group, started nearly a year ago.
Though Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in either blast, its minister of defense, Yoav Gallant, on Wednesday declared that they were at “the start of a new phase in the war.”
“We are allocating resources and forces to the northern arena and our mission is clear: ensuring the safe return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes,” he said in a statement. “To do so, the security situation must be changed.”
President Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel also said Wednesday: “We will return the residents of the north securely to their homes.”
About 60,000 Israelis have been evacuated from northern Israeli cities close to the Lebanese border because of the constant military strikes, and on Tuesday, the day of the pager attack, Netanyahu’s offices said in a statement that his Security Cabinet updated its objectives of the war to include returning the evacuated to their homes.
Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said that everything is being done to keep the incident from growing into a larger conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.
“The secretary-general urges all concerned actors to exercise maximum restraint to avert any further escalation,” Dujarric said in a statement.
Guterres described the strike to reporters during a press conference as a “preemptive strike before a major military operation.”
He said the explosion “confirms that there is a serious risk of a dramatic escalation in Lebanon and everything must be done to avoid that escalation.”
On Tuesday, at least 12 people, including two children, were killed as pagers used by members of Hezbollah exploded in an attack targeting the Iran-backed militant group, Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad said.
Abiad said health workers were among those killed and that 2,750 people were also injured, with 200 in critical condition.
Hezbollah described the explosions as “this criminal aggression” and said Israel will “certainly receive its just punishment.”
Multiple reports said Mossad, the Israeli spy agency, placed the explosives, but Israel has not taken responsibility for the attack.
Hezbollah said in a statement that it is “currently conducting a wide-ranging security and scientific investigation to determine the reasons that led to these simultaneous explosions.”
Lebanon information minister Ziad Makary said a complaint will be lodged with the United Nations Security Council over the attack, which he said was “a blatant attack on Lebanese sovereignty, that targeted civilians, not only Hezbollah members.”
“Using tools that are made for human well-being as a tool of terror is the height of criminality,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a statement.
He called the incident “a shame for the Western countries, especially the Americans.”
“This incident once again showed that although the Western countries and the Americans claim that they are looking for a cease-fire, in practice they fully support the crimes, killings and blind assassinations of the Zionist regime,” Pezeshkian said.
Lebanese Civil Defense said it had conducted numerous fire and rescue operations because of the explosion of wireless devices.
Dozens of homes and shops, several cars and motorcycles were lit ablaze because of the explosions, it said in a statement.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States didn’t know about the attack beforehand and was not involved in it.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi offered support to Lebanon while rejecting attempts at escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.
According to the Anadolu news agency, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati that Israel’s attempts to widen the Middle East conflict were dangerous.
Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said in a statement the pager attacks demonstrated a “wanton disregard” for civilian life. He appealed to Israel’s government not to engage in war in Lebanon as he also called on Hezbollah not to further escalate the situation.
Taiwan firm Gold Apollo denied any involvement and said the pagers carrying its brand were made by the Hungarian company BAC Consulting.
Gold Apollo said BAC had licensed their name, but Apollo had “no involvement in the design or manufacturing of the product.”