In response to Israel’s sophisticated operation that exploded hundreds of paging devices carried by members of the Lebanese militia and sent terror over the whole city of Beirut, Hezbollah has pledged to exact revenge.
Lebanon’s health ministry said on Wednesday that Tuesday’s apparent manipulation of the simple methods it uses to elude Israeli monitoring and attempts to kill resulted in the deaths of twelve people, including two children, and up to 2,800 injuries. Ten of Hezbollah’s members, according to the group, had died.
The group promised to independently avenge the pager explosions, but it also warned it would keep up its attacks near Israel’s southern border, which have sparked fears of a regional confrontation escalating. It stated on Wednesday that “this is another reckoning [for Israel] and it will come, god willing.”
The explosions occurred in several sections of Syria and Lebanon. Pictures of explosions and individuals being rushed to hospitals with blood on their faces, ears, or pocket areas went viral on social media. It will increase animosity between both sides who have been engaged in escalating border skirmishes for nearly a year; Israel’s military has avoided responding.
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert described the incident as a very worrying intensification and asked all concerned parties “to refrain from any further action, or bellicose rhetoric, which could trigger a wider conflagration that nobody can afford.”
Benjamin Netanyahu conferred in Tel Aviv on Tuesday night with his top security aides, which included Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. According to Hezbollah, numerous pagers belonging to employees of its “different units and institutions exploded” on Tuesday afternoon.
Mojtaba Amani, Iran’s ambassador to Beirut, was one of the injured parties, but that his general health is satisfactory.” Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister of the Islamic republic has also completely criticized “the Zionist regime’s terrorist attack” during a call with his counterpart in Lebanon.
Casualties and Deaths
In central Beirut, relatives of the injured gathered on a street outside the American University Hospital. The old man, Ali, revealed his great-nephew was a Hezbollah member who had been hurt in the leg by a pager explosion. According to Firass Abiad, Lebanon’s health minister, among the casualties of Tuesday’s explosions was a 10-year-old girl. “About 2,750 people were injured… more than 200 of them critically,” he said during a press conference. The most common wounds were to the hands, face, and stomach.
A field hospital was established in the southern city of Tyre to house the injured as a result of the surge of patients that overloaded hospitals around Lebanon. In the capital city of Lebanon, ambulance sirens continued to wail continuously for almost three hours following the initial incident.
On Lebanese social media, videos of patients—including children—with bandaged heads, open side wounds, and mutilated hands went viral. The emergency room at Geitawi Hospital in Beirut was caring for “several critical patients,” according to a physician there.
