Beirut. At least eight people were killed and more than 2,700, most of them Hezbollah members, were injured when hundreds of pagers used for communication exploded simultaneously in Lebanon on Tuesday. The condition of about 200 of the injured is said to be critical. Lebanon’s Al-Jadeed TV channel accused the Israeli Army of targeting the batteries of these pagers, which caused the explosions. The injured were taken to hospitals in Lebanon’s capital Beirut and Dahieh in its southern suburbs. Lebanon’s Health Minister Firas Abaid said that 2,750 people were injured in the explosions. The condition of 200 of them remains critical.
According to local media, Hezbollah’s competent agencies are currently conducting “comprehensive security and scientific investigations” to determine the causes of these simultaneous explosions. Israeli multilingual online newspaper Times of Israel, citing a Reuters report, said that a prominent Hezbollah member was among the casualties in the pager explosions. “In addition, a young girl was killed in the Baalbek district of northeastern Lebanon,” according to Lebanese media. It was also reported that top Hezbollah leaders and their advisers were injured when hundreds of pagers exploded in Lebanon.