Walkie-talkies blow up around country; one explosion witnessed at funeral for victim of Tuesday’s pager attack; some solar energy systems said to also detonate
Today, 8:10 pmUpdated at 11:58 pm
A fresh wave of explosions ripped across Lebanon on Wednesday afternoon, appearing to mainly target hand-held radios used by Hezbollah members, a day after thousands were wounded when their pagers spontaneously exploded in a coordinated attack widely blamed on Israel after months of cross-border fire.
At least 20 people were killed and 450 were wounded in Wednesday’s second wave of blasts, according to Lebanese officials. An Israeli report said Jerusalem believes the death toll to be higher than reported, with Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit hit hard by the two days of attacks.
Explosions were reported Wednesday in phones, solar energy systems and fingerprint reading devices used by the group.
At least one of the blasts took place at a funeral organized by Iran-backed Hezbollah for some of the 12 people killed in the pager explosion attack on Tuesday.
An AP photographer in the southern coastal city of Sidon saw a car and a mobile phone shop that were damaged by devices exploding inside of them.
Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV reported explosions in multiple areas of Lebanon, and a Hezbollah official told The Associated Press that walkie-talkies used by the group exploded as part of blasts heard in Beirut. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Images circulating online purported to show the devices, which appeared to be different and larger than the pagers that exploded Tuesday. The hand-held radios were purchased by Hezbollah five months ago, around the same time that the pagers were bought, said a security source.
A Reuters reporter in the southern suburbs of Beirut said he saw Hezbollah members frantically taking out the batteries of any walkie-talkies on them that had not exploded, tossing the parts in metal barrels around them.
Images of the exploded walkie-talkies examined by Reuters showed an inside panel labeled “ICOM” and “Made in Japan.” According to its website, ICOM is a Japan-based radio communications and telephone company.
Lebanon’s Red Cross said on X that it was responding with 30 ambulance teams to multiple explosions in different areas.
Lebanon’s official news agency reported that solar energy systems exploded in homes in several areas of Beirut and in southern Lebanon, wounding at least one girl. The reports of further electronic devices exploding suggested even greater infiltration into Hezbollah’s supply chain than was previously thought.
According to a Ynet report, Israel believes Hezbollah’s toll from the attacks over the last two days is much higher than the official numbers released so far.
“The estimation is that there are many dozens of dead, if not more,” veteran investigative reporter and analyst Ronen Bergman wrote, without naming his sources.
Bergman added that Israel believes the explosions caused “significant harm” to Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit, with much of its leadership taken out of action.
The new round of explosions on Wednesday came as Lebanon and Hezbollah were still struggling to come to terms with the shock and scale of Tuesday’s attack. Israel has not commented on the pager explosions, although US officials have indicated to some foreign media outlets that Jerusalem was behind the attack.
The death toll from Tuesday’s blasts rose to 12, including two children, Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said on Wednesday. Tuesday’s attack wounded nearly 3,000 people, including many of the terror group’s fighters and Iran’s envoy to Beirut.
Hezbollah said Israel was “fully responsible for this criminal aggression” and reiterated it would avenge the attack, while vowing to continue its fight against Israel in support of Hamas in the Gaza war.
Cross-border exchanges with Israeli forces were “ongoing and separate from the difficult reckoning that the criminal enemy must await for its massacre,” Hezbollah said.
Since October 8, Hezbollah and other Lebanon-based terror groups have been firing rockets and missiles at Israel’s north on a near-daily basis, killing at least 26 civilians in Israel and 20 IDF soldiers. Hezbollah has named more than 450 members killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. Another 79 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have also been killed.
On Wednesday evening, Hezbollah fired a barrage of some 20 rockets at northern Israel, setting off sirens in Kiryat Shmona and a number of surrounding areas. The IDF said some of the rockets were intercepted, and there were no reports of injuries.
Hezbollah took responsibility for the attack, claiming to have targeted an Israeli military base.
Earlier in the day, a barrage of 10 rockets was fired from Lebanon at the Western Galilee, with all the missiles striking open areas, causing no injuries, according to the IDF.
Meanwhile the IDF on Wednesday announced that it was redeploying its 98th Division to northern Israel after months of operations in the Gaza Strip under the Southern Command, given the backdrop of the heightened tensions with Hezbollah.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday evening that Israel’s focus has moved to the northern front as a “new phase” of the war was beginning.
“The center of gravity is moving north. We are diverting forces, resources, and energy toward the north,” Gallant told Israeli Air Force personnel at the Ramat David Airbase, in remarks published by his office. “I believe that we are at the onset of a new phase in this war, and we need to adapt.”
The chief of the IDF’s Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, said Wednesday that the military was determined to change the security situation on the Lebanese border as soon as possible.
“The mission is clear: We are determined to change the security reality as soon as possible. The commitment of the commanders and the troops here is complete, with peak readiness for any task that will be required,” Gordin said in remarks provided by the IDF.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Content retrieved from: https://www.timesofisrael.com/hundreds-more-hurt-9-killed-in-lebanon-in-2nd-wave-of-hezbollah-device-explosions/.