Hezbollah exploding pagers latest: At least nine dead ‘including eight-year-old girl’ in mass Lebanon attack

Lebanese health minister Dr Firas al-Abyad said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon that nine people had been killed, including an eight-year -old girl and 2800 wounded in the “security incident”.

He said that at around 3.30pm local time a large number of people, injured by their pager devices exploding, began arriving at emergency rooms mostly in suburbs of Beirut and the south of the country.

So far the ministry has recorded 2800 wounded, 200 of whom are in critical condition and required surgery or admission into intensive care units.

He said most of the injuries recorded were to the face, abdomen, hand and eyes.

Hezbollah in a statement said it held Israel “fully responsible for this criminal aggression, which also targeted civilians”. It warned that Israel will “receive “a just punishment”.

The incident comes at a time of heightened tensions between Lebanon and Israel. The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israeli forces have been clashing near-daily for more than 11 months against the backdrop of war between Israel and Hezbollah ally Hamas in Gaza.

The clashes have killed hundreds in Lebanon and dozens in Israel and displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the border. On Tuesday, Israel said that halting Hezbollah’s attacks in the north to allow residents to return to their homes is now an official war goal.

“The security cabinet has updated the objectives of the war to include the following: Returning the residents of the north securely to their homes,” the prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. “Israel will continue to act to implement this objective.”

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was not harmed in the spree of pager blasts across Lebanon, a senior Hezbollah source told Reuters.

It has previously been reported that a fighter, the son of a Hezbollah MP, was killed while another victim is reportedly a 10-year-old girl.

A Hezbollah official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the explosions were the result of “a security operation that targeted the devices.”

“The enemy (Israel) stands behind this security incident,” the official claimed, without elaborating. He added that the new pagers that Hezbollah members were carrying had lithium batteries that apparently exploded.

Lithium batteries, when overheated, can smoke, melt and even catch on fire. Rechargeable lithium batteries are used in consumer products ranging from phones and laptops to electric cars. Lithium battery fires can burn up to 590C.

Hezbollah has blamed Israel for a spree of pager blasts across Lebanon, saying it will get “its fair punishment”, according to a statement released by the militant group on Tuesday.

No evidence has been provided to support this claim, and the Israeli military have not yet responded.

Photographers for Associated Press at hospitals said the emergency rooms were overloaded with patients, many of them with injuries to their limbs, some in serious condition.

The state-run National News Agency said hospitals in southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley and Beirut’s southern suburbs – all areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence – had called on people to donate blood of all types.

The news agency reported that in Beirut’s southern suburbs and other areas “the handheld pagers system was detonated using advanced technology, and dozens of injuries were reported”.

Photos and videos from Beirut’s southern suburbs circulating on social media and in local media showed people lying on the pavement with wounds on their hands or near their pants pockets.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah previously warned the group’s members not to carry mobile phones, saying that they could be used by Israel to track their movements and to carry out targeted strikes.

Lebanon’s health ministry called on all hospitals to be on alert to take in emergency patients and for people who own pagers to get away from them. It also asked health workers to avoid using wireless devices.

Eight people were killed and almost 2,750 wounded – 200 of them critically – in a spree of simultaneous detonations of pagers across Lebanon, Health Minister Firass Abiad said on Tuesday.

A Hezbollah official earlier claimed that the son of one of their prominent legislators Ali Ammar Mahdi, was killed when device he was carrying exploded.

A security source told Reuters the number of wounded was more than 1,000. In a statement, Hezbollah claimed that three people had been killed, including “a girl and two brothers”.

The Independent could not immediately verify this claim, but the family of a Hezbollah member told Agence France-Presse that their 10-year-old daughter had been killed in Lebanon’s east. Another official from the group said the son of one of Hezbollah’s prominent legislators Ali Ammar Mahdi, was killed when device he was carrying exploded.

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