Hezbollah leaders killed, thousands of people injured in pager explosions in Lebanon, Syria

Hundreds of handheld pagers exploded in Lebanon and parts of Syria on Tuesday, killing several people, including members of the militant group Hezbollah, and wounding thousands, officials said.

Hezbollah and government officials are saying Israel is responsible for the attack, which wounded about 2,750 people, The Associated Press reported.

The Israeli military declined to comment when reached by the AP and Reuters.

The pager attack killed at least nine people, including at least two Hezbollah members and an eight-year-old girl. Ali Ammar, the son of one of Hezbollah’s members in the Lebanese parliament was among the dead.

Iranian state-run IRNA news agency said Mojtaba Amani, the country’s ambassador, was slightly wounded and being treated at a hospital.

The wave of explosions continued for around an hour after the first detonations, which took place at about 3:45 p.m. local time. It’s not immediately clear how the devices were detonated, but the pagers are how Hezbollah communicates, Reuters reported.

A Hezbollah official who spoke anonymously with the AP said the explosions were a result of “a security operation” that targeted the devices.

People were seen lying on the pavement with wounds on their hands or near their pants pockets, where the devices were.

In the past, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned the group’s members not to carry cellphones because Israel could track them to carry out strikes, the AP reported.

The attack comes at a time of heightened tensions between Lebanon and Israel. Since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah and Israeli forced have continually clashed.

The explosion came just hours after Israel said it foiled Hezbollah’s attempt to kill a former senior Israeli security official with an explosive device that could be remotely detonated, the AP reported. 

The Lebanese foreign ministry said the explosions Tuesday were a “dangerous and deliberate Israeli escalation.” The pager attack is being viewed as Israel following up on its “threats to expand the war towards Lebanon on a large scale,” according to Reuters.

Cease-fire efforts in Gaza remain deadlocked, more than 11 months after the war began. The United States and other allied countries continue to look to broker a deal between Israel and Hamas before it expands into a regional war.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the United States was not aware of the pager attack and “not involved.” The department is in the process of gathering information on what happened. 

Updated at 3:19 p.m. EDT.