It was an “Israeli hack,” according to a source close to Hezbollah. This Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of members of this movement were injured in the simultaneous explosion of their pagers in several strongholds of the pro-Iranian party in Lebanon, sources close to the Lebanese party indicated. The toll is however rising rapidly. “Eight people were killed and nearly 2,750 others injured” in these explosions, announced the Lebanese Minister of Health during a press conference.
The pagers, a radio paging system, reportedly exploded at the same time in several Lebanese regions where the pro-Iranian group is based. According to the minister, most of the victims were injured “in the face, hand, stomach and even eyes.”
Several Hezbollah strongholds hit
The ministry called on “all health professionals to immediately go to their workplaces to contribute to emergency care for the large number of injured” and launched an “appeal for coordination with the Lebanese Red Cross to organize blood donations.”
This is the first incident of this kind since the start of violence between the pro-Iranian party and Israel almost a year ago.
“Hundreds of Hezbollah members were injured by the simultaneous explosion of their pagers” in the southern suburbs of Beirut, in southern Lebanon and in the eastern Bekaa plain, all strongholds of the Islamist group, a source close to the party said.
An AFP correspondent in the Bekaa saw wounded people pouring into hospitals in the region. Another in the southern Lebanese city of Saida reported dozens of ambulances arriving at hospitals.
“An unprecedented security incident”
The official National News Agency (NNA) reported an “unprecedented security incident that occurred in the southern suburbs of Beirut as well as in many Lebanese regions,” attributing it to the Israeli “enemy.” It added that “the pager system was hacked via high technology.”
Hezbollah had asked its members to stop using cell phones to avoid Israeli hacking. The powerful party has set up a pager system through which its members are called to return to their units.
The day after the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, triggered by an attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7 on Israeli soil, Hezbollah opened the southern Lebanese front to support its Palestinian ally.
Source: www.20minutes.fr
