A day after more than 3,000 pagers belonging to members of the Shiite organization Hezbollah exploded simultaneously in Lebanon, several local media reported on Wednesday afternoon new explosions, this time on walkie-talkies. The exact number of victims is not known at the moment, although the first information from the Lebanese authorities put the number of dead at twenty and more than 450 wounded in this second attack. At least 12 people, two of them minors, were killed and more than 2,800 wounded in Tuesday’s blasts.
Nine killed and 2,800 injured in explosion of Hezbollah fighter pagers in Lebanon
The television channel Al Manar, linked to Hezbollah, raised the alarm after hearing explosions in several locations in southern Lebanon and in the suburbs of Beirut, the capital. All the places that have suffered explosions are controlled by the Islamist group. In addition, images of a funeral of one of the members of Hezbollah have been disseminated in which the moment of the detonation and the affected person on the ground can be seen.
The Lebanese Army has appealed to the population not to gather in places where incidents have occurred in order to facilitate the arrival of medical teams, although it has not provided further details or specified what type of incidents it is referring to, according to different media reports.
Tons of Hezbollah walkie talkies are reportedly blowing up in Lebanon today, including at a funeral for some of the militants who didn’t survive yesterday’s carnage. pic.twitter.com/8S0HCHK3GD
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) September 18, 2024
The explosions of the walkie-talkies have been more powerful than those of the searchers and have caused fires in several homes and vehicles that firefighters have had to extinguish quickly. The Lebanese Red Cross has stated on social networks that its personnel are “alert and ready to intervene.” “We are responding with 30 ambulance teams to multiple explosions in different areas, including southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley,” they acknowledge in a statement.
Both the Lebanese government and Hezbollah have held Israel “fully responsible” for Tuesday’s blasts and vowed “targeted retaliation.” Likewise, the Islamist party has confirmed that it will continue its “operations to support Gaza, its people and its resistance”, in reference to the attacks it has been carrying out since October 8 against Israeli territory in response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
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For now, Israel has not commented on the matter and has limited itself to issuing a statement in which it says it is assessing the situation. Following Wednesday’s attack, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that the war in Gaza is entering a “new phase”, but made no mention of the device explosions. “The center of gravity is shifting to the north, by diverting resources and forces [there]. We are at the onset of a new phase in the war, it requires courage, determination and perseverance from us,” he said.
-Thailand News (TN)
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