Pocket pagers explode simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria: More than 2,750 injured, 200 critical

Hundreds of handheld pagers exploded almost simultaneously across Lebanon and parts of Syria. At least eight people were killed, including members of the Hezbollah group. More than 2,700 are also known to have been injured.

The Wall Street Journal and Associated Press write about this.

A Hezbollah spokesman told AP that portable pagers used by the group first became hot and then exploded, killing at least two members and wounding others.

Iranian Ambassador Mojtaba Amani was also injured and is being treated in hospital, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Of the more than 2,750 wounded, 200 are in critical condition, Lebanon's Health Minister Firas Abiad said. Some of the wounded have lost fingers, suffered head injuries and have large wounds on their torsos.

Lebanon's Health Ministry has called on all hospitals to be ready to receive emergency patients. AP correspondents reported from hospitals in Beirut that emergency rooms were overwhelmed with patients.

Earlier, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned members not to carry cellphones, saying Israel could use them to track their movements and carry out targeted strikes.

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And after the explosions, an unnamed spokesman for the group said the blasts were the result of a “security operation targeting the devices.” The official blamed Israel for the attack and suggested that lithium batteries in the pagers may have exploded.

Beirut also suspects Israel of carrying out the attack. Lebanon's Information Minister Ziad Makari stressed that his country condemns “Israeli aggression” after the pager explosions, the Times of Israel cites.

On July 27, the Lebanese group Hezbollah attacked the village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, where Israeli settlements are located. The attack killed 12 people, mostly children and teenagers, and wounded about 40 more.

In response, the Israel Defense Forces attacked the Lebanese capital, Beirut. The target of this attack may have been Fuad Shukr, one of the leaders of the Lebanese group responsible for the attack on the village. He probably died as a result of the attack.

And on July 31, one of the leaders of the Palestinian group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in the Iranian capital Tehran. They said he was killed during a “fierce Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran.” after he attended the inauguration ceremony of Iran's new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei then ordered an airstrike on Israel in retaliation for Haniyeh's death. Meanwhile, European and American diplomats are holding urgent talks to prevent another full-scale war in the Middle East.

By Nina Petrovich