Second wave of explosions across Lebanon target Hezbollah walkie-talkies
William Christou
Reporting from Beirut, William Christou writes:
Explosions targeting walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah have gone off in multiple cities across Lebanon, with initial reports of an unknown number of casualties.
A source in Hezbollah confirmed that walkie-talkies used by the group were targeted in the attack. A senior security source said that the explosions were “small in size”, similar to yesterday’s attacks.
The wide-ranging attack occurred just a day after more than 2,800 were injured and 12 killed by exploding pagers all over Lebanon. Both Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for the attack, with the former promising a “fair punishment” for the explosion.
Pictures showed broken and singed communication devices amid scenes of destruction. The Guardian saw multiple pictures of an ICOM IC-V82 two-way radio that had seemingly exploded.
In a video, a member of Hezbollah in the southern suburb of Beirut is taking part in a funeral for fighters killed yesterday when a blast occurs somewhere on his body, knocking him to the ground and sending the crowd around him running.
Israel has not claimed responsibility for either of the two days’ attacks, but reporting suggests the country managed to place explosives in thousands of pagers bought by Hezbollah.
Key events
Hundreds wounded in latest attacks in Lebanon – report
Hundreds of people were wounded in the latest blasts involving walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah on Wednesday, a security source told Reuters.
Many of the wounds were to the stomach and hands, the source said.
Three people reportedly killed in latest Lebanon blasts, say state media
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) has reported that three people were killed in the Bekaa region in the east of the country in the latest device blasts.
The Guardian has been unable to independently verify this.
Reuters reports that security sources have shared that dozens of people were injured by the new explosions in Lebanon on Wednesday.
We will bring you more details as they emerge.
Prior to reports of further explosions on Wednesday afternoon, UN secretary general António Guterres warned that pager blasts targeting militant group Hezbollah on Tuesday indicated “a serious risk of a dramatic escalation in Lebanon and everything must be done to avoid that escalation”.
“Obviously the logic of making all these devices explode is to do it as a pre-emptive strike before a major military operation,” he told reporters, according to Reuters.
The US issued a new round of Iran sanctions on Wednesday targeting 12 individuals who it said were tied to Tehran’s “ongoing, violent repression of the Iranian people,” including its “brutal crackdown on peaceful protests.”
The sanctions, which come two years after the death of Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amin in police custody, target members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iranian prison officials “and those responsible for lethal operations overseas,” the US Treasury Department said in a statement, reports Reuters.
Reuters are also reporting that the communication devices that exploded on Wednesday afternoon were handheld radios. The news agency cites a security source and witness for the information.
According to its sources, Reuters reports that at least one of the blasts heard took place near a funeral organised by Hezbollah for those killed the previous day when thousands of pagers used by the group detonated across Lebanon.
Second wave of explosions across Lebanon target Hezbollah walkie-talkies
William Christou
Reporting from Beirut, William Christou writes:
Explosions targeting walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah have gone off in multiple cities across Lebanon, with initial reports of an unknown number of casualties.
A source in Hezbollah confirmed that walkie-talkies used by the group were targeted in the attack. A senior security source said that the explosions were “small in size”, similar to yesterday’s attacks.
The wide-ranging attack occurred just a day after more than 2,800 were injured and 12 killed by exploding pagers all over Lebanon. Both Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for the attack, with the former promising a “fair punishment” for the explosion.
Pictures showed broken and singed communication devices amid scenes of destruction. The Guardian saw multiple pictures of an ICOM IC-V82 two-way radio that had seemingly exploded.
In a video, a member of Hezbollah in the southern suburb of Beirut is taking part in a funeral for fighters killed yesterday when a blast occurs somewhere on his body, knocking him to the ground and sending the crowd around him running.
Israel has not claimed responsibility for either of the two days’ attacks, but reporting suggests the country managed to place explosives in thousands of pagers bought by Hezbollah.
More blasts heard in Beirut a day after pager explosions
Reuters journalists in Beirut’s southern suburbs heard at least two contained blasts in separate parts of the suburbs on Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear what had caused the explosions but they came a day after pagers used by armed group Hezbollah detonated across Lebanon.
We will bring you more details as they emerge.
Israeli strike on school building kills 5 people, says Gaza’s civil defence agency
Gaza’s civil defence agency said on Wednesday that an Israeli airstrike on a school turned shelter killed five people, while the Israeli military said it targeted Hamas militants, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“Five martyrs and a number of wounded were recovered after the occupation targeted Ibn Al-Haytam school in the Shujaiya neighbourhood” of Gaza City, the agency said in a statement.
The Israeli military said the air force “conducted a precise strike on Hamas terrorists” in a compound that “previously served as the ‘Ibn Al-Haytam’ school in the area of Gaza City”.
The military’s statement said Hamas fighters used the school “to plan and carry out terrorist activities against (Israeli) troops and the State of Israel”.
According to AFP, the military did not provide a death toll but said “numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence”.
It is the latest in a series of Israeli strikes on school buildings housing displaced Palestinians.
On Saturday the civil defence agency said five people were killed in a strike on Gaza City’s Shuhada al-Zeitun school, which the Israeli military said was also used by Hamas militants.
Another strike on the UN-run Al-Jawni school in central Gaza on 11 September drew international outcry after the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) said six of its staffers were among the 18 reported fatalities.
The Israeli military accuses Hamas of hiding in school buildings where many thousands of Palestinians have sought shelter – a charge denied by the Palestinian militant group.
UN high commissioner for human rights demands accountability for Lebanon pager blasts
Those responsible for a deadly wave of explosions across Lebanon targeting paging devices used by members of the Hezbollah militant group “must be held to account”, the UN high commissioner for human rights said on Wednesday.
“Simultaneous targeting of thousands of individuals, whether civilians or members of armed groups, without knowledge as to who was in possession of the targeted devices, their location and their surroundings at the time of the attack, violates international human rights law and, to the extent applicable, international humanitarian law,” Volker Türk said in a statement, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
