Hizbollah members’ pagers explode in Lebanon

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Pagers belonging to Hizbollah members exploded across Lebanon on Tuesday, the militant group said, injuring hundreds of people in an apparent sabotage of the low-tech systems it uses to evade Israeli surveillance and assassination attempts.

The blasts took place in several areas of Lebanon including the capital Beirut, the southern city of Tyre, and the western area of Hermel. Images circulated on social media of people with bloodied pocket areas, ears or faces being taken to hospital.

An Iranian official told the Financial Times that the country’s ambassador to Beirut, Mojtaba Amani, was injured by one of the blasts, but said that “his overall condition is good”. The official said no other members of the diplomatic team from Iran, which backs Hizbollah, were harmed.

Israel, which has been locked in 10-months of intensifying cross-border clashes with Hizbollah, did not immediately comment on the blasts.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Health issued an urgent call to its healthcare workers, telling them to go straight to their workplaces and to stay away from their electronic devices. 

The militant group has turned to low-tech communications as Israel ramped up assassinations of its top commanders. This year Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah’s top leader, implored his fighters to jettison their smartphones, prompting many to switch to older technologies such as pagers, landlines and human couriers.

That did not prevent the assassination of senior Hizbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut in an Israeli air strike in July.

Tuesday’s explosions in Lebanon followed what Israel said had been a foiled assassination attempt by Hizbollah of a former senior official in Israel’s security establishment.

Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, said the “planned Hizbollah bombing attack” had “intended to target a former senior official in Israel’s security establishment . . . in the coming days”.

“As part of the operation, the ISA uncovered a Claymore explosive device . . . intended to target a high-profile individual,” it added. “The device was equipped with a remote activation mechanism, with a camera and cellular technology, enabling it to be activated by Hizbollah from Lebanon.”

This is a developing story