View of Israel’s border with Lebanon after Hezbollah pager explosions kill nine and injure thousands

Watch a view of Israel’s border with Lebanon on Wednesday 18 September after Hezbollahpager explosions killed nine and injured thousands.

Israel’s Mossad spy agency planted explosives inside 5,000 pagers imported by the group months before Tuesday’s detonations, a senior Lebanese security source has claimed.

The operation was an unprecedented Hezbollah security breach that saw thousands of pagers detonate across Lebanon, killing nine people and wounding nearly 3,000 others, including the group’s fighters and Iran’s envoy to Beirut.

A Lebanese security source said the pagers were from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo, but the company said in a statement it did not manufacture the devices.

It said they were made by a company called BAC which has a licence to use its brand, but gave no more details.

Iran-backed Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel, whose military declined to comment on the blasts.

Hezbollah said in a statement on Wednesday that “the resistance will continue today, like any other day, its operations to support Gaza, its people and its resistance which is a separate path from the harsh punishment that the criminal enemy (Israel) should await in response to Tuesday’s massacre”.