Thousands injured, several dead after pagers explode across Lebanon: Health officials

At least nine people are dead and over 2,750 people were injured after pager devices owned by a large number of members in various Hezbollah units and institutions exploded on Tuesday, according to Lebanese officials and the group.

Hezbollah blamed Israel for the attack and vowed it would respond. The apparent attack comes amid rising tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

"We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression, which also targeted civilians and led to the deaths of a number of martyrs and the injury of a large number with various wounds," Hezbollah said in a statement. "This treacherous and criminal enemy will certainly receive his just punishment for this sinful aggression, whether he expects it or not."

The dead and injured included people who are not members of Hezbollah, such as a 10-year-old girl killed in the eastern village of Saraain, according to Hezbollah-owned Al-Ahed News. Hezbollah said eight of its members were killed Tuesday, though, as is typical in its statements, did not specify how they died.

"These explosions, the causes of which are still unknown, led to the martyrdom of a girl and two brothers, and the injury of a large number of people with various injuries," Hezbollah said in a statement.

About 200 of the injuries are critical, meaning they needed surgery, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health. Most of the injuries were to the face, hand or abdomen, officials said.

The Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was among those who had one of the pagers and was injured due to an explosion Tuesday, according to Iranian state TV.

Amani said in a phone call after the incident that he was "feeling well and fully conscious," according to Iranian state TV.

At least 14 people were also injured in targeted attacks on Hezbollah members in Syria, according to the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said it condemned the alleged Israeli attack and has begun preparing a complaint to the Security Council.

The Lebanese Council of Ministers collectively condemned "this criminal Israeli aggression, which constitutes a serious violation of Lebanese sovereignty and a crime by all standards," adding that "the government immediately began making all necessary contacts with the countries concerned and the United Nations to place it before its responsibilities regarding this continuing crime."

The United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon condemned the attack on Lebanon, calling it an "extremely concerning escalation in what is an already unacceptably volatile context," in a statement released by the U.N. Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary General.

Hezbollah said it is conducting a "security and scientific investigation to determine the causes that led to these simultaneous explosions."

There have also been high-level contacts between the U.S. and Israel prompted by Tuesday's incidents in Lebanon, according to a U.S. official.

The U.S. said it had no role in the apparent attack on Hezbollah and no warning that it would happen, according to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller. He also declined to offer an assessment on who could be behind it, saying only that the administration was "gathering information" on the incident.

Miller wouldn't say whether the administration had any information to doubt Hezbollah's claim that Israel was behind the explosions and only said that he didn't want to offer an assessment "one way or the other." The Israeli government has declined to comment on the matter.

The White House also said it was not aware the attack was going to happen ahead of time and would not speculate on who was behind it, according to press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

This attack comes as U.S. diplomats have been working intensely to avoid escalation at Israel's northern border and amid fears that a full-blown war between the country and Hezbollah, which sits on a vast trove of missiles, could engulf the entire region. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is, coincidentally, on his way to the region and scheduled to land in Egypt on Tuesday night.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke again on Tuesday after speaking on Monday.

The latest conversation was intended "to touch base regarding ongoing tensions in the Middle East and the threats facing Israel, to include the Houthi missile attack over the weekend," according to Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder.

Ryder said America's focus was to ensure tensions in the region do not escalate.

"We strongly believe that the way to reduce tension along the Israel-Lebanon border is diplomacy," he said.

Iran and Hezbollah are likely to retaliate for the attack, but it could take them time to do so while they assess what happened, according to a U.S. official.

The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health has issued a statement Tuesday instructing all hospitals in various regions of Lebanon to be on maximum alert and raise their level of readiness to meet the rapid need for emergency health services.

The ministry noted that preliminary information indicates "the injuries were related to the explosion of wireless devices that were in the possession of the injured."

The ministry also asked all citizens who own pagers to throw them away immediately.

The Lebanese Red Cross said it has deployed "more than 30 ambulances" to help treat and evacuate "the wounded as a result of multiple explosions in the South, the Bekaa and the southern suburbs of Beirut," according to a post on its official X account.

The group also added "50 more ambulances and 300 Emergency Medical Technicians [are] on standby to assist in the evacuation of victims."

About 100 hospitals took in the wounded, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said. The agency said hospitals in Beirut and its southern suburb are full and began directing patients to ones outside the region.

Schools across Lebanon will be closed on Wednesday, Lebanese state media reported, citing the country's Minister of Education. Schools and offices closed include public and private schools, high schools, technical institutes, the Lebanese University and private higher education institutions, Lebanese state media reported.

Back in February, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had urged members to stop using mobile phones, saying, "I call for dispensing with cellphone devices at this stage, which are considered a deadly agent."

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The pagers exploded in southern Lebanon, the southern suburbs of Beirut known as Dahiyeh and the eastern Bekaa Valley - all Hezbollah strongholds.

In one instance, closed-circuit surveillance video carried by regional broadcasters showed a person paying at a grocery store as what appeared to be a small handheld device placed next to the cashier exploded.

A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the incident was the "biggest security breach" for the group in nearly a year of conflict with Israel.

The New York Times reported that Israel hid explosive material in the Taiwan-made Gold Apollo pagers before they were imported to Lebanon, citing American and other officials briefed on the operation. The material was implanted next to the battery with a switch that could be triggered remotely to detonate.

Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, suffered a "superficial injury" in Tuesday's pager blasts and was under observation in hospital, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.

The casualties included Hezbollah fighters who are the sons of top officials from the armed group, two security sources told Reuters.

One of those killed was the son of a Hezbollah member of the Lebanese parliament, Ali Ammar, they said. "This is not a security targeting of one, two or three people. This is a targeting of an entire nation," senior Hezbollah official Hussein Khalil said while paying his condolences for Ammar's son.

Air France announced late on Tuesday it was suspending flights connecting Paris with Beirut and Tel Aviv through Thursday due to security concerns.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israel's domestic security agency said it had foiled a plot by Hezbollah to assassinate a former senior defence official in the coming days.

Hezbollah has said it wants to avoid all-out conflict with Israel but that only an end to the Gaza war will stop the cross-border clashes. Gaza ceasefire efforts remain deadlocked after months of talks mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States.

While they saw a threat of escalation, experts were more skeptical, for now, about the potential for an imminent full-scale Israel-Hezbollah war, which the U.S. has sought to prevent and which it believes neither side wants.

SCREAMING IN PAIN
After Tuesday's blasts, ambulances rushed through the southern suburbs of Beirut amid widespread panic.

At Mount Lebanon Hospital outside Beirut, a Reuters reporter saw motorcycles rushing to the emergency room and people with bloodied hands screaming in pain.

The head of the Nabatieh public hospital in the south of the country, Hassan Wazni, told Reuters that around 40 wounded people were being treated at his facility. The wounds included injuries to the face, eyes and limbs.