- Hezbollah warned Israel it would be punished after hundreds of pagers used by its members exploded in its strongholds in southern Lebanon.
- The Iran-backed group said at least two of its fighters and a young girl were among the dead.
- Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said some “2,800 people were injured, about 200 of them critically” with injuries mostly reported to the face, hands and stomach.
- According to media reports, Iran’s ambassador in Beirut was also wounded in a pager explosion but his injuries were not serious.
- The New York Times reported that Israel hid explosive material in the Taiwan-made Gold Apollo pagers before they were imported to Lebanon. The material was implanted next to the battery with a switch that could be triggered remotely to detonate. Gold Apollo, however, said it did not make the pagers. The company’s founder Hsu Ching-Kuang Hsu said the pagers used in the explosion were made by a company in Europe that had the right to use the Taiwanese firm’s brand.
- Hezbollah said it holds the Israeli enemy “fully responsible for this criminal aggression”. Israel “will certainly receive its just punishment for this sinful aggression,” it said in a statement.
- The US, which is Israel’s top arms provider and close ally, said it was “not involved” and “not aware of this incident in advance”.
- Hamas, which is waging war with Israel in Gaza, said the pager blasts were an “escalation” that would only lead Israel to “failure and defeat”.
- The pager attacks came hours after Israel announced it was broadening the aims of the Gaza war to include its fight against Hezbollah along its border with Lebanon.
- Hezbollah and the Israeli military have been exchanging fire since the October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel that triggered the Gaza war.
