4000 Hezbollah terrorists injured, 200 critical, 11 killed by exploding pagers; no comment from Israel

A Reuters journalist saw 10 terrorists bleeding from injuries in Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiya, a main stronghold of Hezbollah.

By Akiva Van Koningsveld, JNS

More than 4,000 Hezbollah terrorists were wounded and at least eleven were killed across Lebanon on Tuesday when their communication devices exploded, Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad confirmed.

Approximately 200 Hezbollah terrorists were in critical condition in 100 different hospitals, Beirut’s health minister announced about three hours after the explosions were first reported at 3.30 p.m. local time.

A Reuters journalist saw 10 terrorists bleeding from injuries in Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiya, which is the main stronghold of Hezbollah. A security source told Qatar’s Al Jazeera that explosions occurred across Lebanon—not only in Beirut but also in the Beqaa Valley and the south.

Senior Hezbollah officials were said to have been wounded in the blasts. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was also wounded in one of the explosions, Tehran’s semi-official Mehr outlet reported.

Unconfirmed reports in Arab media claimed explosions also occurred in Damascus, wounding at least dozens of Hezbollah terror operatives.

In its first official statement on the incident, Hezbollah announced that the pager explosions, “the causes of which are still unknown,” killed at least three of its members, while wounding a large number of others.

Shortly thereafter, the terrorist organization issued a statement that it held the Jewish state “fully responsible for this criminal aggression.”

Lebanese media affiliated with Hezbollah had attributed the incident to the Israel Defense Forces, claiming the mysterious blasts were caused by a hack of the terrorist group’s internal communications networks.

The Wall Street Journal said the pagers were part of a new shipment that the terror group received in recent days. A Hezbollah official suggested that “malware” may have caused the pagers to heat up and explode.

Another Hezbollah terrorist official in Lebanon cited by Reuters called the alleged computer hack by Israel the “biggest security breach so far.”

The IDF declined to comment on the incident, which came just hours after the Israeli Cabinet added the return of citizens displaced from their homes in the north to the country’s war goals, bringing a potential major confrontation with Hezbollah closer to reality.