More device explosions were reported across Lebanon on Wednesday, a day after pagers belonging to Hezbollah members detonated across the country, killing at least 12 people and injuring nearly 3,000, state media reported.
According to Lebanon’s National News Agency, or NNA, “a number” of wounded people had been taken to hospitals in the southern suburbs of Beirut after their wireless pagers exploded.
At least three people were killed in device explosions Wednesday, NNA reported. Lebanon’s health ministry said more than 100 wounded by exploding electronic devices across the country, according to The Associated Press.
Al-Manar, a Hezbollah-affiliated news agency, reported that wireless devices exploded in people’s hands across the country.
The Associated Press reported that its own journalists were in Beirut at a funeral for four people killed by exploding pagers the day before when they heard “multiple explosions at the site.”
Ambulances arrived at the scene, the AP journalists said.
Lebanon’s Red Cross said it deployed 30 ambulances across southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley in response to the device explosions.
The country’s civil defense force said it was helping transport wounded people to hospitals, but its teams were also working to put out fires in “inside homes, cars and shops” that were ignited by blasts.
Two U.S. officials said Israel was behind the attack targeting Hezbollah with exploding pagers on Tuesday. The militant group and Lebanese officials also pinned blame on Israel, which has not taken responsibility publicly.
It was unclear why Israel carried out the attack when it did and whether it was an opportunistic operation or something more strategic that would be followed by other actions, the officials said.
Lebanon’s Public Health Minister Dr. Firas Abiad said that 12 people were killed in Tuesday’s attack, including an 8-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy. More than 2,700 were injured, with an estimated 10% in critical condition, according to National News Agency.
Also on Wednesday, Israeli commander said troops near the border were “at peak readiness.”
“The mission is clear — we are determined to change the security reality as soon as possible,” said the Israel Defense Forces’ Northern Command chief, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin.
Hezbollah, an Iran-back militia and political party inside Lebanon, has been exchanging fire with Israel since October as its aligned with Hamas following the Palestinian group’s Oct. 7 attack.
International officials have worried for months that the exchanges between Lebanon and Israel’s shared border could widen the Israel-Hamas war and further destabilize the region.
Thousands of civilians in southern Lebanon and northern Israel have been displaced by the exchange of fire between Hezbollah and the Israel Defense Forces.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Monday that he and his cabinet have updated its list of war objectives to include the safe return of its residents in the north.
The country’s officials have also warned the U.S., its closest ally, that “military action” would most likely be the only way to address mounting hostilities with Hezbollah.
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