Second wave of explosions strikes Hezbollah stronghold in Lebanon; walkie-talkies, other electronic devices explode

After a day of pager explosion that was targeted at Hezbollah, another wave of explosions occurred on Sep 18 in which 14 people died and over 400 others were wounded as walkie-talkies exploded.

As mourners gathered for the funeral of people who died a day before because of pager explosion, at least one of the walkie-talkies exploded nearby as the sound of the explosion echoed through the streets causing panic among the crowd.

The blasts happened across southern Lebanon, including Beirut's suburbs. The pager explosion across the Middle Eastern country on Sep 17 killed 12 people and injured nearly 3,000 others.

It is not yet known as to how many walkie-talkies blew up, but it is estimated to be several hundred. Reportedly, some of the landline telephones exploded too at various locations in East Lebanon.

According to media reports, the hand-held wireless radio devices or walkie-talkies were bought around five months ago, nearly the same time as the pagers.

The latest attacks are an indication that the entire communication network of the Iranian-backed group may have been infiltrated by Israel.

Israel's spy agency Mossad, which has a long history of sophisticated operations on foreign soil, planted explosives inside pagers imported by Hezbollah months before, a senior Lebanese security source and another source told news agency Reuters.

Thousands of pagers exploded in a synchronized attack after the users received a message believing that it came from Hezbollah.

Like the pagers, all the walkie-talkie devices also exploded at the same time, Hezbollah claimed. The devices detonated indiscriminately and across the city as people were in shops, or with their families at home.

Those who were killed in the Sep 17 attack include an eight-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy.

Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was also wounded in the pager incident, Iran's state media reported.

Hezbollah avoided using smartphones and instead used pagers to evade Israeli military and intelligence agencies.

The Iranian-backed group has now vowed to respond to the "Israeli breach" of its communications network and has vowed to avenge the attack.

On Sep 19, it attacked Israeli artillery positions with rockets in the first strike since pager blasts.
Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed outfit banned both by the United States and the European Union is the political and military establishment in Lebanon.

Hezbollah is an ally of the Palestinian fighter group Hamas, which has been at war with Israel in Gaza since October 2023.

The group has said it will continue to support Hamas and that Israel should wait for a response to the "massacre".

Israel, however, has not commented on the recent blasts but has said it is widening the spectrum of its war with Hamas in Gaza to include its fight against its ally Hezbollah. The statement was made hours before the pager blasts.