Multiple explosions took place on Tuesday in the southern Dahieh district of Beirut, with hundreds of Hezbollah terrorists reportedly injured, with other explosions and injuries also taking place in villages in the southern part of the country, where the Shiite group is dominant, as well as the Bekka Valley. According to Saudi media, senior members of the terrorist group were injured. After several hours, Hezbollah said: "The explosion of the devices led to the death of a girl, two brothers, and many wounded. Beware of rumors. We are on high alert to defend Lebanon." Lebanon's health minister confirmed at least 11 died and more than 4,000 were injured, among them at least 200 in serious condition. Other reports indicate that 500 lost their vision, according to Saudi media.
One od Hezbollah's lawmakers in the Lebanese parliament, Ali Amar, had his son killed by a blast as well. "My son was killed in the communication device explosion. This was Israeli aggression – we will respond in a language the enemy understands," he said. "We say, 'We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return.' We have a day with this enemy, and the days will be between us," he continued. Several sons of other senior Hezbollah members, including of lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah, were injured, some critical.
Hezbollah later blamed Israel for the attack, saying, "After examining the facts, we see the Israeli enemy as fully responsible for the attack on the beepers. We will respond from an unexpected place."
A Hezbollah official called the pager detonations the "biggest intelligence breach yet." A security source informed Reuters that numerous Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon, including combatants and medical personnel, suffered severe injuries when their communication pagers unexpectedly detonated.
Video: Live footage from Lebanon
A Lebanese channel reported from an official source that so far, more than 1,000 people have been injured in Lebanon from explosions of pager devices, among them five seriously. The Iranian ambassador to Lebanon was also injured, according to Arab media. The IDF, anticipating a possible retaliation, was on the highest alert in its intelligence and air force dispositions, according to Israeli reports.
Video: The scene of one of the explosions in Lebanon
The Saudi channel Al-Hadath reported from its sources that the explosions involved advanced technology on communication devices, with more than 70 people injured. The channel also reported on a "mysterious operation."
Video: The aftermath of the explosion in Lebanon
The Arabic Sky News network reported several simultaneous explosions of communication devices used by Hezbollah members. Arab channels reported that the operation was carried out "using advanced technology." It Sky News reported that 1,500 are injured and five are dead.
The Ministry of Health in Lebanon has told all citizens to immediately throw away the pagers they own. The explosions come barely two hours after Israel revealed that it foiled a Hezbollah plot to assassinate a former senior Israeli security official.
Topaz Luk, who used to be an advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, tweeted following the explosions, "This did not age well," as a response to a journalist who doubted Israel would act in Lebanon before late September. The tweet was deleted quickly, and the Prime Minister's Office issued the following statement: "Topaz Luk stopped being a spokesperson for the prime minister several months ago and is not part of the inner circle of advisors."
According to Reuters, Lebanon's crisis operations center, which is run by the Health Ministry, asked all medical workers to head to their respective hospitals to help cope with the massive numbers of wounded coming into for urgent care. It said healthcare workers should not use pagers.
This is a developing story.
