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Eight killed, 2,750 wounded across Lebanon: health minister
Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad has just held a news conference, during which he announced that eight people have been killed and 2,750 wounded by exploding pagers across the country.
- Eight people have been killed in the attacks. Among them is an eight-year-old girl from the Bekaa Valley.
- At least 2,750 people have been wounded. More than 200 are in critical condition.
- The majority of the injuries recorded so far are either to the face or arms and in some cases the abdomen.
- About 100 hospitals across the country have received casualties.
- Hospitals in the south have exceeded their capacity, and the ministry is working on transferring the injured to be treated in facilities elsewhere.
An ambulance on its way to hospital in Sidon, Lebanon
Pager explosions ‘a huge security breach for Hezbollah’
Navvar Saban, a security and conflict analyst at the Omran Center for Strategic Studies, has called the explosions a large-scale cyberattack that has affected not only Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon but also even members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Syria.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from Istanbul, Saban said: “People think that pagers are old, but there is an advanced model produced that Hezbollah received recently and started using in Syria and Lebanon, along with the Revolutionary Guard.
“So having them is an indication of a huge security breach for Hezbollah,” he added.
Remarking on the scale of the attacks, Saban said: “It’s thousands of assassination attempts at the same time that happened in different geographical areas. The psychological impact is huge. It’s going to affect Hezbollah.”
Saban said the main goal of this attack is to leave a psychological footprint. “It will terrify the area. It will terrify the region. And it will put more pressure on Hezbollah.”
‘This Israeli madness should be stopped at some point’
Tohid Asadi, a professor at Tehran University, says Israel’s targeting of Hezbollah leaders continues to “fuel the tension” with regional rival Iran, the armed group’s main backer.
“We have Tehran as a player that tries to avoid a direct confrontation as it sees it as the most unwelcome scenario on the table, given the fact it’s wrong to drag the entire West Asia into a full-fledged, all-out war which is not in the benefit of any player,” Asadi told Al Jazeera.
“Iran is practicing a strategy of patience. Iran tries to retaliate in a way that doesn’t result in an all-out war. But on the other hand, Iran certainly has got a limit. After the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, the supreme leader said Iran will retaliate and we have this psychological operation with the Israelis waiting.
“But there’s an understanding in Tehran that this Israeli madness should be stopped at some point.”
‘New brand’ of communication devices heated, then exploded: Report
It remains unclear at this time how the communication devices used in Lebanon were rigged to explode.
A Hezbollah official who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press the new brand of handheld pagers used by the group first heated up, then exploded.
A source close to the group who also requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters told the AFP news agency the blasts were an “Israeli breach” of its communication system. He didn’t elaborate. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Civil Defense first-responders carry a man who was wounded when his handheld pager exploded
