- Hezbollah said the incident is the largest intelligence breach in group’s history
Hundreds of Hezbollah fighters were reportedly killed or wounded this afternoon when the pagers they used to communicate exploded, according to Lebanese security sources.
The stunning incident, which saw scores of Hezbollah members severely injured throughout southern Lebanon and in its capital Beirut, constitutes the single largest intelligence breach in the militant outfit’s history, a Hezbollah official said.
The sudden and unexpected detonations gave way to widespread panic and chaotic scenes in Beirut, with various images depicting victims sporting significant wounds as they lay on the ground surrounded by terrified bystanders.
Other images showed how car windows were shattered and their interiors coated with blood after communication devices presumably detonated inside the vehicles.
There is no word on the exact cause of the shocking blasts, but speculation is mounting that the technology was somehow hacked or sabotaged by Israeli security services.
One source close to Hezbollah told AFP the incident came as a direct result of an ‘Israeli breach’ of its communications, while another confirmed ‘at least 150 people’ had been wounded.
Israeli officials are yet to comment.
Earlier this year, Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah urged members of his organisation to revert to using the pagers for vital communications, reasoning that modern smartphones would be more susceptible to cyber attacks by Israeli intelligence organisations.
Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) said ‘tens of injured have been taken to hospital after the handheld pagers system was detonated using advanced technology’ and relayed urgent calls from hospitals in the country’s south for people to donate blood.
The sudden explosions across southern Lebanon this afternoon come hours after an Israeli strike on Lebanon killed three people, the health ministry said.
Israeli forces have traded near-daily fire with the Iran-backed Lebanese group since its ally Hamas launched the October 7 attacks on Israel, triggering the war in Gaza.
The health ministry said an ‘Israeli enemy strike’ on the border village of Blida killed ‘three people and wounded two’, without specifying if they were fighters or civilians.
Israel’s military said its air force ‘eliminated three terrorists’ from Hezbollah who were at a ‘terrorist infrastructure site’ in the Blida area.
Hezbollah did not immediately announce any fighters had been killed, but claimed a series of attacks on Israeli troops and positions near the border on Tuesday.
The NNA reported several Israeli attacks in the south of the country.
The latest deaths came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the political-security cabinet had ‘updated the goals of the war’ to include ‘the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes’.
Almost a year of cross-border violence has displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Monday that ‘military action’ was the ‘only way left to ensure the return of Israel’s northern communities’.
The violence has killed some 627 people in Lebanon, including at least 141 civilians.
On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, authorities have announced the deaths of at least 24 soldiers and 26 civilians.
Hezbollah has repeatedly said that only a ceasefire in Gaza will put an end to its attacks, and diplomatic activity in recent months has sought to avert all-out war.