At least eight dead in wave of exploding pagers
HUNDREDS of pagers exploded simultaneously across Lebanon and in parts of Syria, killing at least eight people, including members of the militant group Hezbollah and wounding the Iranian ambassador, officials said.
Officials pointed the finger at Israel in what appeared to be a sophisticated, remote attack that wounded more than 2,700 people at a time of rising tensions across the Lebanon border.
The Israeli military declined to comment, but it came as Israel announced that halting Hezbollah’s attacks in the north in order to allow its residents to return is now an official war goal, as the country considers a wider military operation that could ignite an all-out conflict.
A Hezbollah official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that the new brand of hand-held pagers used by the group first heated up, then exploded, killing at least two of its members and wounding others.
Lebanon’s health minister, Firas Abiad, said at least eight people were killed and 2,750 wounded – 200 of them critically.
The son of a member of Hezbollah’s bloc in Lebanon’s parliament was among those killed. The sons of two other senior officials were wounded, a Hezbollah official said.
Prominent Hezbollah politician Ali Ammar spoke to the AP after his son, Mahdi, was killed.
“This is a new Israeli aggression against Lebanon,” Mr Ammar said. “The resistance will retaliate in a suitable way at the suitable time.”
A Hezbollah official said the wounded include the son of Hezbollah’s Hassan Fadlallah and the son of senior security official Wafiq Safa.
Iranian state-run IRNA news agency said that the country’s ambassador, Mojtaba Amani, was superficially wounded by an exploding pager and was being treated at a hospital.