People gather as smoke rises from a mobile shop in Sidon, Lebanon, on September 18, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

A source close to Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said walkie-talkies used by group members exploded in its Beirut stronghold on Wednesday (September 18, 2024), with State media reporting similar blasts of pagers and “devices” in east and south Lebanon.

Lebanon pagers explosion: Follow highlights from September 17, 2024

“A number of walkie talkies exploded in Beirut’s southern suburbs,” the source said, with Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers confirming devices had exploded inside two cars in the area.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said pagers and “devices” had also exploded in Hezbollah strongholds in the east and south, with AFP correspondents also reporting hearing explosions..

Meanwhile, Associated Press journalists said that multiple explosions occurred at the site of a funeral for three Hezbollah members and a child killed by exploding pagers the day before.

A man’s bag explodes in a supermarket in Beirut, Lebanon September 17, 2024 in this screen grab from a video obtained from social media.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Taiwanese company Gold Apollo on Wednesday (September 18, 2024) denied a report that it had produced hundreds of explosive-packed pagers used by Hezbollah members which simultaneously exploded, killing at least nine people.

“They are not our products from beginning to end. How can we produce products that are not ours?” company head Hsu Chin-kuang told reporters in Taipei after the New York Times reported that his company’s pagers were involved in the blasts.

An ambulance arrives at a hospital as more than 1,000 people, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, were wounded on September 17, 2024, when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon, according to a security source, in Beirut, Lebanon.
| Photo Credit:
Reuters

Dozens of people, including Iran’s ambassador, were wounded in Beirut’s suburbs and other parts of Lebanon after their handheld pagers exploded today (September 17, 2024), according to media reports and security officials. It wasn’t immediately clear if people were killed.

A senior military intelligence official and an official with a Lebanese group with knowledge of the situation, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said that pagers carried by Hezbollah members were detonated. The second official said it was believed to be an Israeli attack.

Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency, close to the country’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, said on its Telegram channel that Mojtaba Amani, Iran’s ambassador in Lebanon, has a superficial injury and is under observation at a hospital. 

Meanwhile, another semi-official Mehr news agency, also on its Telegram channel reported that Amani was wounded by a pager explosion.

Photos and videos from Beirut’s southern suburbs circulating on social media and in local media showed people lying on the pavement with wounds on their hands or near their pants pockets.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah previously warned the group’s members not to carry cellphones, saying that they could be used by Israel to track their movements and to carry out targeted strikes.

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Civil Defence first-responders carry a wounded man whose handheld pager exploded at al-Zahraa hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, on September 17, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Hundreds of people were injured across Lebanon when their pagers exploded Tuesday (September 17, 2024), Health Minister Firass Abiad said, with a source close to Hezbollah saying its members were targeted.

The source close to Hezbollah said a large number of the Iran-backed movement’s members had been injured in the near-simultaneous incidents, but that no deaths had been reported.

It wasn’t immediately clear if people were killed.

A senior military intelligence official and an official with a Lebanese group with knowledge of the situation, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said that pagers carried by Hezbollah members were detonated. The second official said it was believed to be an Israeli attack.

The Associated Press reached out to the Israeli military, which declined to comment.

Photos and videos from Beirut’s southern suburbs circulating on social media and in local media showed people lying on the pavement with wounds on their hands or near their pants pockets.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah previously warned the group’s members not to carry cellphones, saying that they could be used by Israel to track their movements and to carry out targeted strikes.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry called on all hospitals to be on alert to take in emergency patients and for people who own pagers to get away from them. It also asked health workers to avoid using wireless devices.

AP photographers at area hospitals said the emergency rooms were overloaded with patients, many of them with injuries to their limbs, some in serious condition.

The state-run National News Agency said hospitals in southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley and Beirut’s southern suburbs — all areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence — had called on people to donate blood of all types.

The news agency reported that in Beirut’s southern suburbs and other areas “the handheld pagers system was detonated using advanced technology, and dozens of injuries were reported.”

The Associated Press quoted a Hezbollah official as saying that “several hundred” people in Lebanon, including its members, were wounded.

A Hezbollah official, quoted by Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the detonation of the pagers was the “biggest security breach” the group had suffered in nearly a year of war with Israel.

“The enemy (Israel) stands behind this security incident,” the official said, without elaborating. He added that the new pagers that Hezbollah members were carrying had lithium batteries that apparently exploded.

Lithium batteries, when overheated, can smoke, melt and even catch on fire. Rechargeable lithium batteries are used in consumer products ranging from cellphones and laptops to electric cars. Lithium battery fires can burn up to 590°C.

The incident comes at a time of heightened tensions between Lebanon and Israel. The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israeli forces have been clashing near-daily for more than 11 months against the backdrop of war between Israel and Hezbollah ally Hamas in Gaza.

The clashes have killed hundreds in Lebanon and dozens in Israel and displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the border.

Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon injured

Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was slightly injured on Tuesday (September 17, 2024) by the explosion of an electronic pager, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported.

“Amani has a superficial injury and is currently under observation in a hospital,” Fars quoted a source as saying.