At least 32 On Tuesday and Wednesday, communications equipment used by the armed group Hezbollah exploded across Lebanon, killing several people, including two children, and injuring thousands, many seriously.
Walkie-talkie explosion kills 20 in latest round of explosions on Wednesday According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, at least 450 people were injured.
The blast occurred near a large crowd who had gathered for the funerals of four victims of simultaneous pager bombings on Tuesday that killed at least 12 people and injured nearly 3,000.
The city’s BBC team reported chaotic scenes, with ambulances struggling to reach the injured and locals becoming suspicious of anyone using a mobile phone.
The explosion deepened unease in Lebanese society and came a day after an apparently similar and highly sophisticated attack on thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah members.
The armed group blamed its rival Israel. Israeli officials have so far declined to comment.
The two companies in Taiwan and Hungary accused in the media briefing of making the pagers have denied responsibility, and the Taiwanese government said different parts of the pagers did not come from Taiwan.
“These components are low-end ICs (integrated circuits) and batteries, and I can say with certainty that they are not made in Taiwan,” said Economy Minister Kuo Jun-hui.
A Japanese company that makes walkie-talkies said it stopped producing that model 10 years ago.
Here’s what we know so far.
How did the attack unfold?
The first round of explosions began at around 15:30 local time on Tuesday (13:30 BST) in the Lebanese capital Beirut and several other areas in the country.
Witnesses said they saw smoke billowing from people’s pockets, followed by small explosions that sounded like fireworks and gunshots.
The New York Times quoted U.S. officials as saying that the pager received a message that appeared to be from Hezbollah’s leadership before the explosion. The messages appeared to trigger the devices instead, the outlet reported.
The blast lasted for about an hour after the initial explosion, Reuters reported.
Soon after, dozens of people began arriving at hospitals across Lebanon, and witnesses described widespread chaos in emergency rooms.
At around 17:00 local time on Wednesday (15:00 British Summer Time), another round of explosions occurred across the country, and similar scenes were staged.
A security source told Reuters there were reports that what was blown up were walkie-talkies and that the equipment had been purchased by Hezbollah five months ago.
At least one explosion occurred near a funeral in Beirut for some of the victims of Tuesday’s attack, causing panic near a procession.
20 people have died and at least 450 people have died According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, one person was injured.
What do we know about these devices?
Details are still emerging about the walkie-talkie that was detonated in Wednesday’s explosion.
Video taken after the incident showed the destroyed equipment bearing the branding of the Japanese company Icom. The company’s statement describes the IC-V82 model as a handheld radio that was exported to the Middle East between 2004 and 2014 and has not been shipped since.
Icom says production of this model stopped 10 years ago. It is said that battery production has also been stopped.
The company said it could not confirm whether the IC-V82 that exploded in yesterday’s attack was shipped directly from Icom or through a distributor. The company said any products sold to overseas markets will only be sold to the company’s authorized dealers.
But these models might not even be from Icom.
Earlier, a sales executive for Icom’s U.S. subsidiary told The Associated Press that the device that exploded in Lebanon appeared to be a knockoff, adding that counterfeit versions of the product were easy to find online.
A Hezbollah operative told The Associated Press that the pager that exploded Tuesday was a new brand the group had never used before. A Lebanese security official told Reuters that about 5,000 pagers were brought into the country about five months ago.
Tags seen on fragments of the exploded pager pointed to a pager model called the “Rugged Pager AR-924.” But its Taiwanese manufacturer, Gold Apollo, denied any involvement in the explosion. When the BBC visited Gold Apollo on Wednesday, local police were searching the company’s offices, examining documents and questioning staff.
Founder Hsu Ching-Kuang said his company has signed an agreement with a Hungarian company, BAC, to produce the devices and use his company’s name. He added that their money transfer was “very strange” but did not elaborate.
BBC verify accessed BAC’s corporate records, which show the company was first incorporated in 2022.
Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono, the company’s chief executive, told NBC she knew nothing about the explosion. “I don’t make pagers. I’m just the middleman. I think you’re mistaken,” she said.
The Hungarian government said the company “has no manufacturing or operational sites” in the country.
What triggers pager attacks?
U.S. and Israeli officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Axios that the one-time detonation of the pagers was originally planned as the opening of a “full-scale” offensive against Hezbollah. But in recent days, Israel has become concerned that Hezbollah is aware of the plan, so they set off early.
Israeli officials have not yet commented on the accusations, but most analysts believe it was likely behind the attack.
Professor Simon Mabon, head of international relations at Lancaster University, told the BBC: “We know there is precedent for Israel using technology to track targets,” but called the scale of the attack “unprecedented.”
Lena Khatib of Britain’s Chatham House said the attack showed Israel had penetrated “deeply” into Hezbollah’s “communications network”.
In a statement, Hezbollah accused Israel of being behind the attack and said the country “bears full responsibility for this criminal aggression against civilians.”
Why does Hezbollah use pagers?
Hezbollah relies heavily on pagers as a low-tech means of communication in an attempt to evade Israeli location tracking. A pager is a wireless telecommunications device that receives and displays alphanumeric or voice messages.
They are harder to track than cell phones, which have long since been abandoned as too fragile, as evidenced by the Israeli assassination of Hamas bombmaker Yahya Ayyash in 1996. The phone exploded in his hand.
In February, Hassan Nasrallah instructed Hezbollah fighters to throw away their cellphones, saying they had been infiltrated by Israeli intelligence. He told his troops to smash the phones, bury them or lock them in iron boxes.
Experts now say the directive, issued in a live televised speech, may have forewarned Israeli intelligence agents that the group would pursue a new, possibly less technical, method of communications.
What do we know about the victims of Tuesday’s attack?
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP that two of the Tuesday’s attacker was the son of two Hezbollah lawmakers. They also said the daughter of a Hezbollah member was killed.
Among those injured was Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani. Iranian media reported that his injuries were minor.
Reuters quoted sources as saying that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was not injured in the explosion.
Lebanese Public Health Minister Firas Abiad said injuries to the hands and face accounted for the majority.
He told the BBC’s NewsHour program that victims who visited the emergency department ranged in age from the elderly to young children, and some were wearing casual clothes.
Outside Lebanon, similar explosions occurred in neighboring Syria, injuring 14 people, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Will the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel escalate?
Hezbollah is allied with Iran, Israel’s arch-rival in the region. The group is part of Tehran’s axis of resistance and has been engaged in a low-level war with Israel for months, often exchanging fire along Israel’s northern border. Entire communities on both sides have been displaced.
The explosion occurred hours after Israel’s security cabinet was formed Make the safe return of residents to the north of the country an official war goal.
Israeli Defense Minister Yov Galante said during a visit to an Israeli air base on Wednesday that the country was “opening a new phase of the war” and that “the center of gravity is shifting to the north through the transfer of resources and forces.”
While tensions persist, observers say both sides have so far aimed to contain hostilities without crossing the line to all-out war. But some worry the situation could spiral out of control.
Additional reporting by Frances Mao
