Eight people were reported killed and more than 2,700 injured in attacks in Lebanon. Hundreds of pagers belonging to Hezbollah members exploded simultaneously on Tuesday, an attack the Iran-backed militant group blamed on Israel.
The day after Israeli leaders warned of an escalating military operation against Hezbollah, a pager belonging to a member of the group in Lebanon suddenly exploded. Witnesses reported seeing smoke coming from the victim’s pocket, followed by sounds that sounded like fireworks or gunfire.
Lebanon’s health minister said 200 of the injured were in serious condition. He added that many of the victims suffered injuries to the face, especially the eyes. He said there were also many injuries to the hands and abdomen. Iranian state media said the injured included Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amini.
The Israeli military declined to comment, according to The New York Times.
It is unclear how the attackers planned and carried out the attack, or whether the pagers were physically tampered with or if the attack was somehow carried out using software. The latter, as far-fetched as it may sound, could spark widespread panic about the safety of battery-powered mobile devices. The New York Times reported that some people in Lebanon were afraid to use their mobile phones after the attack, with one resident yelling at callers to “hang up, hang up!”
According to the Times, Hezbollah has long been suspicious of cellphones’ use near the Israeli border because of their location-tracking capabilities, but has recently switched from cellphones to pagers. In February, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah reportedly warned Hezbollah that cellphones were dangerous and could be used by Israel as spy tools. Nasrallah advised Hezbollah to “destroy or bury” its cellphones.
Experts reportedly still don’t know exactly how the pagers were distributed to Hezbollah members, but they say Iran, which has a history of providing weapons, technology and other military assistance to Hezbollah, likely played a key role in their introduction and distribution.
