'Throw It Away': Hezbollah's Dire Warning After Deadly Explosions Target Pagers Received In New Shipment

The Hezbollah on Tuesday asked its members to throw away new pagers that were received via a shipment in recent days. Lebanese officials said at least eight people, including the son of a Hezbollah lawmaker and the 10-year-old daughter of a member of the group, were killed in deadly explosions targeting these devices.

“Each one who received a new pager, throw it away,” said a voice message circulated to Hezbollah members, as per a report published by The Washington Post.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported “an unprecedented enemy security incident” with “hand-held pagers detonating” in several regions. According to sources, the incident was a result of an “Israeli breach” of Hezbollah’s communications.

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The Iran-backed militant group had previously asked its members to avoid using mobile phones after the Gaza war began to prevent Israeli breaches of technology. The members establish contact through their own telecommunications system.

The group blamed the blasts on Israel even though there was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. The explosions, however, came hours after Israel announced it was broadening the aims of the war sparked by the October 7 attacks, to include its fight against Hezbollah along its border with Lebanon.

Sources told AFP that hundreds of members were injured by the “simultaneous explosion of their pagers” in the group’s strongholds in Beirut’s southern suburbs, in Lebanon, and in the eastern Bekaa Valley.

Health officials reported chaotic scenes in the capital as ambulances zipped past, rushing injured Hezbollah members to hospitals in the area. In the southern parts, dozens of ambulances were spotted rushing between the cities of Tyre and Sidon in both directions, with hospitals in both cities cordoned off.

The health ministry in a statement asked “all hospitals in… areas near the locations of the injured, to be on high alert and raise their level of preparedness”, and “all health workers to urgently go to their workplaces” to assist. The Lebanese Red Cross said it was on “high alert” in a statement shared on X, formerly Twitter.

Several videos doing the rounds on social media show what appears to be pagers heavily damaged by explosions. There are also instances in which these devices are seen exploding in shops while being carried by their owners.

Here’s what we know so far:

• The Wall Street Journal reported that the pagers came from a new shipment that Hezbollah had received in recent days
• The personal communication devices began exploding around 3.30 pm in what looked like simultaneous remote attacks
• Reports suggest that the attack mainly targeted pagers carried by Hezbollah members
• Hezbollah sources told Lebanese media that the pagers were hacked by Israeli intelligence services, causing the batteries to overheat and then explode
• Most of the injured people have severed fingers, severe burns and other blast injuries. Iranian ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani is also among the injured

(With agency inputs)