Injured citizens to be treated at Health Ministry’s expense
The Ministry of Public Health has issued a statement addressing hospitals and emphasising “the necessity of receiving the injured and ensuring their rapid treatment at the ministry’s expense”.
The ministry also asked all health workers to urgently head to their workplaces “to help with providing emergency treatment to the large number of injured who are being transferred to hospitals”.
It also urged citizens on the roads to make way for ambulances so they can quickly transport the injured.
The beginning of a larger campaign?
Ramy Khoury, a distinguished fellow at the American University of Beirut, has called the pager explosions “the most dangerous event” faced by Hezbollah in years.
“This is highly unusual and really troubling for Hezbollah and all of its allies in the ‘axis of resistance’ because it means that Israelis have capabilities and intelligence, and attacks of this nature are far beyond what people had assumed,” he told Al Jazeera.
Khoury also said the incident could signal “the beginning of a larger campaign”, noting that Israel has talked about removing the threat of Hezbollah for many months now.
“It is a huge issue for them, much more serious than Hamas,” he continued.
“They are also at a higher level of confidence in the Americans and British and Western support that they are feeling they can do anything they want and the West will support them no matter how bad it is.”
‘Intelligence coup’ or act of ‘desperation’?
Jamal Ghosn, a political commentator and writer in Beirut, says the sound of sirens is echoing around the Lebanese capital.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, he called the explosions “a major intelligence coup” by Israel against Hezbollah but also argued that it could well be an act of “desperation”.
“If they [Israel] did have that access and have that technology to do that, to pull it off now, it’s kind of a desperate move,” he said, noting that such a “secret weapon” would have been “much more powerful had they actually used it at a later stage during fallout confrontations”.
Ghosn added: “So, on one hand, yes, it’s a major coup. On the other hand, it’s a bit of a desperation move.”
Iran’s ambassador doing well after minor injuries: Embassy
The Iranian embassy in Lebanon and state television have confirmed that Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani, who used one of the pagers, was lightly injured but is conscious and not in serious condition.
An Iranian state television reporter in Beirut said communication devices exploded across Lebanon, including in the south near Israel’s border and Bekaa to the east.
Civilians are also among the wounded.
