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Pagers belonging to Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon on Tuesday, the militant group said, killing at least three people and wounding hundreds in an apparent sabotage of the low-tech systems it uses to evade Israeli surveillance and assassination attempts.
Explosions occurred in several areas Lebanon including the capital Beirut, the southern city of Tyre and the western district of Hermel. Images of explosions and people with blood in their pockets, ears or faces being taken to hospital circulated on social media.
Hezbollah said that “at around 3:30 p.m. … multiple messaging devices, known as pagers, belonging to many of those working in various Hezbollah units and institutions exploded.” The report said the “mysterious” blasts killed three people, including a child, and a spokesman said hundreds were injured.
Iran's ambassador to Beirut, Mojtaba Amani, was wounded in one of the blasts, an Iranian official told the Financial Times, adding that “his general condition is good.” The official said other members of the diplomatic team from Iran, which backs Hezbollah, were unharmed.
Hezbollah said its “specialized agencies are currently conducting a large-scale security and scientific investigation to determine the causes that led to these simultaneous explosions. Medical and sanitary services are also treating the wounded in several hospitals in various regions of Lebanon.”
Israel, which has been locked in escalating border clashes with the United States for 10 months, Hezbollahdid not immediately comment on the explosions.
Lebanon's Ministry of Health has urged its health workers to return to their workplaces and refrain from using electronic devices.
Hezbollah has turned to low-tech communications as Israel has stepped up its assassinations of its senior commanders after the arch-foes began exchanging fire across the border following a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
Over the past 10 months, Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed some 470 people, mostly Hezbollah fighters, while the group's attacks on Israel have killed more than 40.
This year, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called on his fighters to give up smartphones, prompting many to switch to older technology such as pagers, landlines and couriers.
This did not prevent the assassination of a senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr as a result of an Israeli airstrike in July on the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of the terrorist group.
Tuesday's explosions in Lebanon followed what Israel said was a foiled Hezbollah attempt to kill a former senior Israeli security official.
Israel's Shin Bet internal security service said the “planned Hezbollah bombing” was “targeted at a former senior official in the Israeli security forces… in the coming days.”
“During the operation, ISA recovered a Claymore explosive device… designed to kill a high-profile individual,” it added. “The device was equipped with a remote activation mechanism, a camera, and a cellular connection, allowing Hezbollah to activate it from Lebanon.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security office expanded the goals Israel's nearly year-long campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, including securing the northern front against Hezbollah.
He voted to add “the safe return of northerners to their homes,” referring to the more than 60,000 Israelis who have been displaced by clashes along the Israel-Lebanon border. The fighting has also forced about 100,000 Lebanese to flee their homes in the border region.
Analysts saw the security cabinet's decision as a statement of intent, marking a shift in the IDF's priorities and raising fears that clashes between Hezbollah and Israel could escalate into a full-scale war.
Additional reporting by Andrew England in London