Pager explodes, hundreds of Hezbollah fighters killed and injured

Movie-like explosions

Anyone who has seen the movie “Kingsman: The Secret Service” will surely remember the scene where people’s heads exploded when the SIM cards that billionaire Richmond Valentine planted in their heads were detonated by this monstrous villain. That scene is probably similar to what just happened to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Several pagers carried by Hezbollah members exploded simultaneously at 3:30 p.m. local time, according to the Wall Street Journal and Reuters news agency.

People gather outside a hospital, as hundreds of Hezbollah members in Lebanon were injured on Tuesday when pagers they were using exploded, Photo: Reuters

Initial reports said three people were killed and many others injured. But later, Lebanon's Health Minister Firas Abiad said pagers exploding across the country had injured 2,750 people and killed eight, including a child.

Meanwhile, a Hezbollah official said the casualties were mounting so quickly, across the country and so many that it was impossible to get an accurate count immediately but appeared to be as high as 1,000.

Hospital admissions in southern Lebanon, a Hezbollah stronghold, were extremely high, with injuries including severed fingers, head injuries and large lacerations to the torso.

The affected pagers were from a new shipment Hezbollah received in recent days. A Hezbollah official said hundreds of fighters had such devices and speculated that malware may have caused the devices to explode. The official said some felt the pagers heat up and threw them away before they exploded.

Hezbollah immediately launched a wide investigation into the cause but did not blame Israel and warned people not to believe misinformation or rumors.

Meanwhile, Minister Firas Abiad said he did not know how or why the explosion happened, adding that many medical workers had thrown away their pagers for fear of a second wave of explosions.

Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was also injured when his pager exploded but was conscious and out of danger, state television said. Iran is a backer of Hezbollah, one of the world's best-armed non-state militias.

All eyes on Israel

Ronen Solomon, an independent intelligence analyst, said the explosive devices in Lebanon looked like the kind of operation carried out by Israeli intelligence. “What we are seeing now in Lebanon is an effort by something like Mossad,” said Solomon, who specializes in understanding Israeli operations against Hezbollah and Iran.

Michael Horowitz, head of intelligence at Le Beck International, a Middle East-based security and risk management consultancy, said it could be malware that caused the pager’s battery to overheat and explode, or a device that was placed inside the device and detonated remotely. “Either way, it’s a very sophisticated attack,” said Horowitz.

What remains of a pager used by a Hezbollah fighter after the device exploded. Photo: Gizmodo

The incident comes amid heightened tensions along Lebanon's border with Israel. Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel shortly after Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, sparking the Gaza war. The two sides have been exchanging gunfire daily since then, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee towns on both sides of the border and leaving hundreds of Hezbollah fighters dead.

Israel has also carried out several high-level intelligence operations in and around Lebanon since the war began. In late July, Israel killed top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in an airstrike in Beirut. Earlier this year, Saleh al-Arouri, a founding member of Hamas, was killed in Beirut in an airstrike claimed by Israel.

Nguyen Khanh (according to Wall Street Journal, Reuters)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/may-nhan-tin-dong-loat-phat-no-dang-so-hang-tram-chien-binh-hezbollah-thuong-vong-post312799.html