Hezbollah vows retaliation after exploding pagers kill at least nine and hurt almost 3,000

Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel after pagers used by its members exploded across Lebanon simultaneously, killing at least nine people and wounding almost 3,000 in a dramatic and unprecedented attack at a time of heightened tensions in the Middle East.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the blasts, which came just hours after Israel announced it was broadening its aims in the war sparked by the Hamas attacks on 7 October to include its fight against Hezbollah along the border with Lebanon.

Lebanon’s health minister, Firass Abiad, said the blasts on Tuesday killed a 10-year-old girl, among others. He told a press conference: “About 2,750 people were injured … more than 200 of them critically,” with injuries mostly reported to the face, hands and stomach.

The apparent sabotage attack followed months of targeted assassinations by Israel against senior Hezbollah leaders. It came as US officials try to de-escalate tensions between the two sides and remain concerned that Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, could order a ground invasion of Lebanon. It threatens to derail efforts by the US to prevent Iran, which backs the Lebanese Shia militia, from retaliating against Israel for the July bombing in Tehran that killed the Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.

The blasts appeared to exploit the low-tech pagers that Hezbollah has adopted in order to prevent the targeted assassinations of its members, who could be tracked by mobile phone signals. Those wounded in the attack include Iran’s ambassador to Beirut, Mojtaba Amani, according to reports.

It also ratcheted up tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, interrupting an uneasy calm which had prevailed over the last three weeks when both parties had appeared to step back from the brink of a regional war after a limited Hezbollah response in late August to Israel’s assassination of its top military commander, Fuad Shukur, in Beirut.

Lebanon’s information minister called the explosions an act of “Israeli aggression”.

Hezbollah said two of its fighters were among the dead and threatened a “just punishment” for Israel. Later media reports said the son of the Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar also died in the explosions.

Hezbollah fighters in Syria were also injured in the attack, with several being treated in hospitals in Damascus, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards-affiliated Saberin News reported that some guards in Syria had also been killed.

The US state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said it was “too early to say” how it would affect Gaza ceasefire talks. He told a briefing the US was not involved and did not know who was responsible. Hamas described the attack as an “escalation” that would lead to Israel’s defeat.

Israeli media reports on Tuesday evening said Netanyahu, the defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and other security chiefs had been huddling at the defence ministry headquarters at the Kirya base in Tel Aviv after the blasts. The Israeli military said senior commanders had held a situational assessment “focusing on readiness in both offence and defence in all arenas” but there was no change in instructions to civilians.

The Israel Defense Forces’ home front command told local authorities there was a possibility of an escalation after the incident.

A Hezbollah source said they believed the attack was in response to an alleged assassination attempt by the Shia militia on a former top Israeli defence official, revealed on Tuesday by the Israeli Shin Bet security agency.

It accused Hezbollah of attempting to kill a former security official using a claymore anti-personnel mine that could be detonated remotely, publishing photos of a dismantled bomb and wiring wrapped in tape that it claimed showed the attack was prevented in its “final stages”. Hezbollah has not commented on the alleged assassination attempt.

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