Hezbollah holds Israel responsible for deadly pager blasts across Lebanon

Hezbollah has accused Israel of orchestrating a series of deadly pager explosions across Lebanon, which killed at least nine people and injured nearly 3,000, according to Lebanese health ministers.

Israel's Mossad spy agency had planted explosives inside 5,000 pagers imported by Lebanese group Hezbollah months before Tuesday's detonations, a senior Lebanese security source and another source told Reuters.

The explosions, which occurred in the capital Beirut and several other regions on Tuesday afternoon, have plunged the already volatile region into further chaos, with Hezbollah vowing to retaliate.

The blasts, caused by handheld pager devices used by Hezbollah members for secure communications, injured a wide portion of the population, including members of Hezbollah and Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani.

The Lebanese health ministry confirmed that 200 of the injured are in critical condition.

Ambulances rushed to overwhelmed hospitals across Beirut, as scenes of chaos and grief unfolded outside medical centres.

Hezbollah's media office reported that eight of its fighters were among those killed, and several more were injured.

The group blamed Israel for what it described as "criminal aggression" and promised "just retribution".

Hezbollah spokespersons condemned the attacks, stating that Israel’s actions would not go unanswered.

The Israeli military has declined to comment on the incident.

The explosions follow weeks of escalating tensions between Hezbollah and Israel, as the war between Israel and Hamas continues.

Israel's security cabinet has made it a priority to stop Hezbollah's attacks in northern Israel and to facilitate the return of displaced residents, a war objective announced just hours before the pager explosions.

There have been daily exchanges of fire along the Israel-Lebanon border since the beginning of the Gaza conflict on 7 October, with Hezbollah declaring its actions as support for Hamas and the broader Palestinian cause.

The incident, involving pagers used by Hezbollah members for communications due to fears of mobile phones being hacked, is unprecedented in both scale and nature.

Hezbollah confirmed that the pagers were distributed among members of different units and institutions within the group.

Video footage from a supermarket CCTV showed one of the explosions, with a man’s pocket or bag suddenly igniting, causing him to collapse in pain as others scrambled for safety.

Initial reports suggest that the devices, part of a new shipment Hezbollah had recently acquired, may have overheated, triggering the blasts.

While overheated lithium-ion batteries can catch fire, military experts believe this incident involved a more sophisticated attack.

A former British Army munitions expert suggested that the pagers may have been packed with military-grade explosives and detonated remotely via an alphanumeric text message.

This kind of operation could indicate advanced cyberwarfare tactics, and Hezbollah sources have described the incident as a major security breach.

Lina Khatib, a Middle East analyst at Chatham House, remarked that the scale of the attack suggests Israel has been conducting extensive cyber operations against Hezbollah.

Nicholas Blanford, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, warned that Hezbollah would now face intense internal pressure to retaliate.

“This is the most dangerous moment in the Hezbollah-Israel conflict since October,” he said.

Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was among the wounded in the blasts.

His wife later confirmed that his injuries were minor, and he was recovering in hospital.

Among the dead was the 10-year-old daughter of a Hezbollah member in the Bekaa Valley, and the son of Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar.

Another son of lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah was also wounded.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 14 people in Syria, where Hezbollah is actively supporting government forces in the ongoing civil war, were also injured by pager explosions.

Hezbollah has not revealed what it believes caused the pagers to explode, but Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has pointed fingers at Israel, condemning the explosions as a “serious violation of Lebanese sovereignty” and a “crime by all standards”.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi echoed these sentiments, condemning Israel for the attack.

The situation remains highly volatile, with Hezbollah pledging to continue its operations in support of Gaza, while warning that further strikes against Israel were imminent.

In a statement, Hezbollah noted that the retaliation for the Tuesday massacre "would come from places the enemy does not expect".

The pager explosions come amid an already tense standoff between Hezbollah and Israel. According to the Lebanese health ministry, since the start of the conflict in October, at least 589 people have been killed in Lebanon, the majority being Hezbollah fighters.

On the Israeli side, government sources report that 25 civilians and 21 security personnel have been killed.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israel's security cabinet declared the return of 60,000 displaced residents to the north of Israel a war priority.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, during a meeting with U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, stated that military action was the only way to ensure the safe return of residents.

He added that Hezbollah’s ongoing alignment with Hamas and refusal to de-escalate meant that conflict was inevitable.

Hezbollah’s media office also reported further clashes along the border, where Israeli airstrikes killed three Hezbollah fighters in the Blida region, while Hezbollah responded with missile and drone attacks on Israeli military targets.

The Israeli security agency, Shin Bet, revealed that it had recently foiled a Hezbollah bomb plot aimed at a former senior Israeli security official.

In the face of these escalations, Israel has continued to hold firm on its security measures, while Hezbollah’s vow to retaliate has raised fears of a broader conflict enveloping the region.

As diplomatic efforts to mediate the conflict seem increasingly strained, analysts are warning of the potential for further violence in the weeks to come.