On Wednesday, hand-held radios used by Hezbollah exploded across southern Lebanon and Beirut’s suburbs, heightening tensions with Israel. The blasts follow a previous day’s attack, where explosive-laden pagers, also linked to Hezbollah, detonated nationwide, causing widespread injuries among the group’s fighters.
In the Bekaa region, three people were killed, and dozens more were wounded in the latest incident, including during a funeral for victims of the previous day’s explosions. Hezbollah, caught off guard by the attacks, responded by launching rockets at Israeli artillery positions—its first offensive since the explosions.
According to Lebanese security sources, both the radios and pagers, purchased by Hezbollah five months earlier, had been rigged with explosives by Israel’s Mossad. Tuesday’s attacks killed 12 people, including two children, and injured nearly 3,000, many of whom were Hezbollah fighters.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for an independent investigation. Meanwhile, a Taiwanese manufacturer denied producing the explosive pagers, which were reportedly made under license by a Hungarian firm.
Hezbollah has vowed retaliation, while Israel has remained silent on the blasts. Experts warn that the escalating conflict, which has simmered since the Gaza war began last October, could spiral into a broader Middle Eastern war, drawing in both the U.S. and Iran.
