Hezbollah blames Israel after explosions leave nine dead, more than 2,000 injured in Lebanon

At least nine persons, including an 8-year-old girl, were killed and 2,750 injured on Tuesday after pagers used by members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded across Lebanon, the country’s health minister Firass Abiad said, according to Al Jazeera.

In a statement after the blasts, Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, blamed Israel for the “criminal aggression” and said that the messaging devices belonged to employees of its various units and institutions, BBC reported. The group vowed that it would get “just retribution”.

There was no comment on the blasts from Israel at the time.

Among those injured in the blasts was Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported, according to Al Jazeera.

Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily strikes for the past 10 months amid Tel Aviv’s war on the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza. Hezbollah is an ally of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

On Tuesday, the pagers received a message at 3.30 pm that appeared to be sent from Hezbollah’s leadership, The New York Times reported, quoting several unidentified officials. The pagers exploded after beeping for several seconds.

Israel reportedly hid explosive material into the batteries of a shipment of pagers made in Taiwan and imported into Lebanon, other unidentified officials added, according to The New York Times.

Hezbollah members had been using pagers as a way...

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