https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/dozens-hezbollah-members-wounded-lebanon-when-pagers-exploded-sources-witnesses-2024-09-17/

Hezbollah members wounded in Lebanon when pagers explode By Laila Bassam September 17, 202410:43 AM EDT Updated a min ago

Item 1 of 2 People gather outside a hospital, as hundreds of members of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, including fighters and medics, were seriously wounded on Tuesday when the pagers they use to communicate exploded, according to a security source, in Beirut, Lebanon September 17, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir [1/2]People gather outside a hospital, as hundreds of members of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, including fighters and medics, were seriously wounded on Tuesday when the pagers they use to communicate exploded, according to a security source, in Beirut, Lebanon September 17, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed... Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab Read more

Summary Hezbollah calls it biggest security breach in war with Israel Iranian ambassador to Lebanon reportedly injured Lebanese Red Cross dispatches over 50 ambulances, 300 medics Injuries to limbs, face and eyes BEIRUT, Sept 17 (Reuters) - More than 1,000 people, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, were wounded on Tuesday when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon, security sources told Reuters. A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the detonation of the pagers was the "biggest security breach" the group had been subjected to in nearly a year of war with Israel. Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the Gaza conflict erupted last October, the worst such escalation in years.

The Israeli military declined to comment on Reuters enquiries about the detonations. Iran's Mehr news agency said the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was injured by one of the blasts. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report. The pagers that detonated were the latest model brought in by Hezbollah in recent months, three security sources said. A Reuters journalist saw ambulances rushing through the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, amid widespread panic. A security source said that devices were also exploding in the south of Lebanon.

At Mt. Lebanon hospital, a Reuters reporter saw motorcycles rushing to the emergency room, where people with their hands bloodied were screaming in pain. The head of the Nabatieh public hospital in the south of the country, Hassan Wazni, told Reuters that around 40 wounded people were being treated at his facility. The wounds included injuries to the face, eyes and limbs. The wave of explosions lasted around an hour after the initial detonations, which took place about 3:45 p.m. local time (1345 GMT). It was not immediately clear how the devices were detonated.