Lebanon pager explosions – latest: Attack on Hezbollah devices kills 32 as Israel declares ‘new phase’ of war
Fresh wave of blasts kill 20 when walkie-talkies detonated in second attack
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Lebanon is reeling after 32 people have now been killed in two days of device explosions across Beirut and other cities.
Hand-held walkie-talkie radios used by armed group Hezbollah detonated across Lebanon's south on Wednesday, stoking tensions after similar explosions of the group’s pagers the day before.
Lebanon's health ministry said 20 people were killed and more than 450 injured in the second attack in Beirut's suburbs and the Bekaa Valley, while the death toll from the explosions the previous day rose to 12, including two children, with nearly 3,000 injured.
Israeli officials have not commented on the blasts, but security sources said Israel's spy agency Mossad was responsible.
"We are opening a new phase in the war. It requires courage, determination and perseverance from us," Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said, adding that his country’s military focus is shifting to its northern border.
Wednesday marked Lebanon’s deadliest day since cross-border fighting erupted between Hezbollah and Israel nearly a year ago, heightening fears of an escalation into a full-blown regional war.
The Iran-backed militant group has vowed retaliation after the operations appeared to throw them into disarray.
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Everything we know about the Hezbollah device explosions – and the questions that remain
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Israel’s defence minister says focus is shifting to the north
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has declared the start of a “new phase” of the war with a focus shifting to the northern border with Lebanon.
In a speech to Israeli troops on Wednesday, he avoided specifically mentioning the detonations in Lebanon but praised work of Israel’s army and security agencies.
“The center of gravity is moving north. We are diverting forces, resources, and energy toward the north,” Gallant said, according to the Times of Israel.
“I believe that we are at the onset of a new phase in this war, and we need to adapt. We will need consistency over time, this war requires great courage, determination, and perseverance.”
Who uses pagers?
As mobile phones became the world’s main communications tool, pagers were largely rendered obsolete, with demand plunging from their 1990s heyday.
But the tiny electronic devices remain a vital means of communication in some areas - such as healthcare and emergency services - thanks to their durability and long battery life.
“It’s the cheapest and most efficient way to communicate to a large number of people about messages that don’t need responses,” said a senior surgeon at a major UK hospital, adding that pagers are commonly used by doctors and nurses across the country’s National Health Service (NHS).
“It’s used to tell people where to go, when, and what for.”
The UK’s NHS was using around 130,000 pagers in 2019, more than one in 10 of the world’s pagers, according to the government. Britain’s Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) also uses pagers to alert its crews, a source familiar with the lifeboat service told Reuters.
Iran condemns attacks in Lebanon and offers support
Iran condemned attacks in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday that involved exploding communications devices, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said in a post on X.
Hand-held radios used by Hezbollah detonated on Wednesday killing nine people and injuring more than 100, further stoking tensions with Israel a day after similar explosions launched via the group’s pagers which caused 12 fatalities.
“The terrorism of the Zionist regime causes aversion and disgust. Iran strongly condemns yesterday’s criminal explosion of communication devices and today’s criminal explosion of walkie-talkies, which resulted in the death and injury of hundreds of Lebanese civilians,” Mohajerani said.
Earlier in the day, according to state media, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian had said: “The incident in Lebanon shows once again that Western countries and the United States, despite claiming to seek a ceasefire, fully support the crimes, massacres and blind terrorism of the Zionist regime in practice.”
Watch live from Beirut as more explosions heard in Lebanon one day after pagers detonate
Watch live from Beirut as more explosions heard in Lebanon day after pagers detonate
Watch a live view of Beirut after more explosions were heard on Wednesday, 18 September, with reports emerging that hand-held walkie-talkie devices have detonated.
Germany puts export of weapons to Israel on hold
Germany has put a hold on new exports of weapons of war to Israel while it deals with legal challenges, source close to the Economy Ministry has said.
Last year, Germany approved arms exports to Israel worth 326.5 million euros ($363.5 million), including military equipment and war weapons, a 10-fold increase from 2022.
However approvals have dropped this year, with only 14.5 million euros’ worth granted from January to Aug. 21. Of this, the “weapons of war” category accounted for only 32,449 euros.
A source close to the ministry cited a senior government official as saying it had stopped work on approving export licences for arms to Israel pending a resolution of legal cases arguing that such exports from Germany breached humanitarian law.
The ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
Images online appear to show exploded walkie-talkies
Images circulating online reportedly show the hand-held walkie-talkies that have killed nine people and injured 300 others in Lebanon when they exploded on Wednesday afternoon.
The Independent has not been able to independently verify these images.
United Nations Security Council to meet on Friday
The United Nations Security Council will meet on Friday over the pager blasts in Lebanon targeting militant group Hezbollah, said Slovenia’s UN Ambassador Samuel Zbogar.
The meeting was requested by Algeria on behalf of Arab states, he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the pager blasts targeting Hezbollah indicate “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 ahead of the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly .
Guterres “urges all concerned actors to exercise maximum restraint to avert any further escalation,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric later said in a statement.
Breaking: Israel declares ‘new phase’ of war
The Israeli defense minister has declared the start of “new phase” of war as army turns attention to northern front with Lebanon.
Photo shows car with smashed window after radio detonates
UN chief says explosions are a ‘serious risk of dramatic escalation’
The UN’s secretary general told a briefing on Wednesday that it was “very important” that civilian objects should not be weaponised after 12 people were killed in Lebanon on Tuesday.
António Guterres held a briefing before news of the latest wave of device blasts on Wednesday that officials say has killed at least nine people and wounded more than 300.
He said the explosions on Tuesday confirmed “a serious risk of a dramatic escalation in Lebanon”, and warned that “everything must be done” to avoid the escalation.
He added: “What has happened is particularly serious, not only because of the number of victims that it caused, but because of the indications that exist that this was triggered, I would say, in advance of a normal way to trigger these things, because there was a risk of this being discovered.”
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