In a second wave of pager blasts in Lebanon this Wednesday, explosions of walkie-talkies devices left at least 20 killed and hundreds more wounded.
One day after pager explosions across Lebanon killed and wounded hundreds of Lebanese, a second wave of deadly blasts, this time targeting walkie-talkies, left 20 people dead and hundreds injured, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
The explosions happened across Lebanon on Wednesday afternoon, including when a massive population of Lebanese were at the site of a funeral for three Hezbollah members and a child killed by exploding pagers the day before.
A few hours after the explosions, a sales executive at the U.S. subsidiary of Japanese walkie-talkie maker Icom issued a statement and asserted that the exploded radio devices in Lebanon appears to be a knockoff product and not made by Icom. “I can guarantee you they were not our products,” said Ray Novak, a senior sales manager for Icom America’s amateur radio division.
Hezbollah and the Lebanese government condemned Israel for both the attack in separate statements.
UN Secretary General António Guterres also rebuked the attacks and called for restraint from both Hezbollah and Israel. He also suggested the operation may have been planned as a prelude to a major Israeli attack on Lebanon.
The UN Security Council is expected to have an emergency meeting on this coming Friday to discuss the unprecedented operations in what appeared to be a massive supply chain breach by Israeli intelligence.
It was an Israeli job!
The same day as the second wave of explosions shocked Lebanon, the Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant, indirectly claimed responsibility for the attacks and said during a visit to an air force base that Israel was shifting its military focus towards the front with Hezbollah.
“The center of gravity is shifting northward, meaning we are increasingly diverting forces, resources and energy towards the north,” Gallant said.
To make the confession even more clear, Gallant also hailed the Israeli Intelligence Agency, the Mossad, for “great achievements”.
