Hezbollah members among 9 dead as exploding pagers wound 2,750 in Lebanon

A massive wave of exploding handheld pagers across Lebanon and parts of Syria on Tuesday killed at least nine people and wounded more than 2,700 others, including Hezbollah fighters, medics and Iran’s envoy to Beirut, government and Hezbollah officials said.

Lebanese officials and Hezbollah blamed Israel for what appeared to be a near-simultaneous and remote attack that threatens to further inflame tensions between the two countries and the wider Middle East. The Israeli military declined to comment.

Lebanon’s health minister, Firas Abiad, said at least nine people were killed, including an eight-year-old girl, and 2,750 wounded — 200 of them critically.

Hezbollah officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to the Associated Press and Reuters said two of its fighters were killed and others were injured.

The Hezbollah official told Reuters the detonation of the pagers was the “biggest security breach” the group had seen in nearly a year of conflict with Israel.

The wave of explosions lasted around an hour after the initial detonations, which took place about 3:45 p.m. local time (1345 GMT). It was not immediately clear how the devices were detonated.

The pagers that exploded had been newly acquired by Hezbollah after the group’s leader ordered members to stop using cell phones, warning they could be tracked by Israeli intelligence, the Associated Press and Reuters reported. A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press the pagers were a new brand the group had not used before.

Regional broadcasters carrying CCTV footage which showed what appeared to be a small handheld device placed next to a grocery store cashier where an individual was paying spontaneously exploding. In other footage, an explosion appeared to knock out