After the big “pager” attack.. Hassan Nasrallah’s condition revealed
A senior source in Hezbollah said that the party’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah He was unharmed in a series of pager bombings across Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s Hezbollah vowed to retaliate after blaming Israel for blowing up pagers on Tuesday that killed at least eight people and wounded 2,750 others, including several of the militant group’s fighters and the Iranian ambassador to Beirut.
Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary condemned the bombing of pagers used by Hezbollah and other groups in Lebanon to communicate, calling it an “Israeli aggression.” Hezbollah said Israel would receive “just punishment” for the explosions.
An official said in HezbollahSpeaking on condition of anonymity, he said the pager bombing was the “biggest security breach” the group had suffered in nearly a year of conflict with Israel.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric stressed that the developments in Lebanon are extremely worrying, especially in light of the “very volatile” context, adding that the UN regrets any civilian casualties.
In contrast, an Israeli military spokesman, without commenting directly on the explosions in Lebanon, said that the Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi, met with senior officers on Tuesday evening to assess the situation. He added that no change in policy had been announced but that “vigilance must continue.”
Hezbollah earlier confirmed in a statement that at least two of its fighters were killed in the explosions, and said it was investigating the causes.
Two sources familiar with Hezbollah operations said earlier this year that Hezbollah fighters were using pagers as a low-tech way to try to avoid Israeli tracking of their locations.
A pager is a wireless communications device that receives and displays messages.
Pagers were blown up in southern Lebanon, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, and in the eastern Bekaa region, all of which are strongholds of Hezbollah.
Hundreds of wounded
Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad said 2,750 people were injured in the explosions, 200 of them in critical condition.
Two security sources revealed that among the wounded were a large number of Hezbollah fighters, who are sons of senior officials in the armed group, noting that among the dead was the son of Hezbollah member of the Lebanese parliament, Ali Ammar.
“This is not a security targeting of one, two or three people. This is targeting an entire nation,” said Hussein Khalil, a senior Hezbollah official, while offering his condolences for the death of Ammar’s son.
Al-Jadeed TV quoted Ammar as saying that what happened was an Israeli aggression, adding, “We will deal with the enemy in the language it understands.”
Tuesday’s bombings add to the heavy price Hezbollah has paid over the past year, losing more than 400 of its fighters in Israeli strikes, including its top commander, Fouad Shukr, in July.
Meanwhile, Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency said Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, suffered a “superficial injury” in Tuesday’s pager explosions and was now under observation in hospital.
Earlier on Tuesday, Israel’s internal security agency said it had foiled a plot by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to assassinate a former senior defense official in the coming days.
Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, which did not name the official, said in a statement it had seized an explosive device connected to a remote detonation system using a mobile phone and camera that Hezbollah intended to operate from Lebanon.
The Shin Bet security service said the attempted attack was similar to a Hezbollah plot thwarted in Tel Aviv a year ago, without providing further details.
screaming and pain
After Tuesday’s explosions, witnesses saw ambulances speeding through the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah, amid widespread panic. A security source said explosive devices also exploded in southern Lebanon.
The director of Nabatieh General Hospital in the south of the country, Hassan Wazni, said about 40 injured people were being treated at his facility. The injuries included wounds to the face, eyes and limbs.
A journalist said groups of people gathered at the entrance to the buildings to check on people they knew who might have been injured.
Regional broadcasters broadcast surveillance camera footage showing what appeared to be a small, hand-held device placed next to a grocery store cashier as someone was paying and then spontaneously detonating.
Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel immediately after Hamas militants launched attacks on Israel on October 7 that sparked the war in Gaza. Since then, Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged fire regularly, avoiding any major escalation.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced from towns and villages on both sides of the border due to the hostilities.
