At least nine dead and more than 300 injured after walkie-talkies explode in Lebanon

NIne people are dead and more than 300 injured after hundreds of walkie-talkies detonated on Wednesday in Lebanon. The blasts come a day after thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah members simultaneously exploded, leaving at least 12 dead and 3,000 wounded. In Dahieh — Hezbollah’s fiefdom in southern Beirut, where four victims from Tuesday’s attack were being buried — at least one explosion was heard.

Explosions have also been reported around Tyre and Nabatieh, two cities in the south of Lebanon. Victims suffered injuries mainly to the stomach and hands.

A video recorded the moment when an explosion is heard and a member of security falls to the ground injured. Images of the attacks were shared on social media shortly after the blasts, including in Israeli Telegram groups — a sign of the level of infiltration. The photos show a burning car in Zahlé, in the Becah valley; the explosion of a solar panel; a scorched sofa and a table near Tyre.

In Wednesday’s attack it was not pagers that exploded, but walkie-talkies. Hezbollah acquired the devices five months ago, the same period in which it purchased the pagers, according to a security source cited by Reuters. Images of the exploded devices examined by the agency show that the interior panel was labelled “ICOM” and “made in Japan.” According to its website, ICOM is a Japan-based radio communications and telephony company.

Several ambulances rushed towards Dahieh, while young people from the neighborhood were nervously closing off access to the area. Young men with rifles could be seen on the streets, and locals were visibly tense. Two tanks and an armored vehicle from the Lebanese army were guarding the area, which is very unusual.

The attacks have sparked alarm among militia members. They are not allowed to carry computers, they are afraid of iPhones and Al-Shabab — the young men who form the soul of Hezbollah — monitor all recordings made, avoid talking and rush around on motorcycles.

Ayya, a young witness dressed in an abaya, explained shortly after the incident: “It was a loud sound, but not an explosion. Some screaming was heard but the funeral procession continued as normal.” As they carried the coffins, chants were sung: “We will answer your call, O Hussein,” they chanted.

Another witness, Ali (not his real name), said: “The explosion sounded, we turned around and saw a man on the ground, with a wounded hand.”

Escalating tension

The latest incident — along with Tuesday’s coordinated attack, which has been blamed on Mossad, Israel’s notorious secret services abroad — has escalated the tension of the war of attrition between Hezbollah and Israel, which began when Israel launched the Gaza offensive on October 7. The Iranian-backed Lebanese militia responded Wednesday to Tuesday’s attack, the biggest security breach in its history, by firing rockets at Israeli artillery positions.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday in remarks to Israeli Air Force personnel, “The center of gravity is shifting northward. We are diverting forces, resources and energy towards the north.”

Drones were flying over the site of the funeral ceremony for Tuesday’s victims. At the funeral, Hashim Safi Al Din — a top Hezbollah leader — said: “If the enemy believes that with this new form of attack it will achieve its goal, it does not know that in our culture, when our left hand is cut off, we take the sword with our right hand.”

“If he thinks that with this the settlers in northern Palestine [the inhabitants of northern Israel] will be able to return to their homes, I tell [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu that he will not achieve that goal and that he will see in the coming months how it is so,” he added.

The bodies were taken to a room decorated with images of Iranian and Hezbollah leaders killed by Israel and the U.S.

The United Nations Security Council will meet on Friday to discuss the pager blasts, at the request of Algeria. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the explosions pose “a serious risk of dramatic escalation in Lebanon, and everything must be done to avoid the escalation.” “Obviously the logic of making all these devices explode is to do it as a preemptive strike before a major military operation,” he told reporters ahead of the annual meeting of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly.

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