Forbes StaffOn Wednesday, hand-held radios used by Lebanese armed group Hezbollah were detonated.
On Tuesday, the news broke of a massive pager attack across Lebanon and parts of Syria. The following day, on Wednesday, Lebanon was again rocked by an attack – where hand-led radio blasts occurred in Lebanon.
Hand-held radios used by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah detonated.
On Wednesday, hand-led radios used by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah were detonated across Lebanon’s south, in Beirut suburbs and the Bekaa Valley. This has further stoked tensions with Israel a day after similar explosions by the group’s pagers. Lebanon’s health ministry said that 14 people had been killed and 450 were injured, while the death toll from explosions reached 12 on Tuesday, including two children with nearly 3,000 injured.
One of the Wednesday’s blasts took place near a funeral.
It is said that one of the blasts on Wednesday took place near a funeral organized by Iran-backed Hezbollah for those killed the previous day when thousands of pagers used by the group exploded across the country and injured many of its fighters. A Reuters reporter in the southern suburbs of Beirut said he saw Hezbollah members frantically taking batteries out of any walkie-talkies on them that had not exploded, tossing the parts in metal barrels. Red Cross Lebanon took to X and said that it was responding with 30 ambulance teams to multiple explosions in different areas, including the south of Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley. On Wednesday, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said, “We are opening a new phase in the war. It requires courage, determination, and perseverance from us.”
Hezbollah brought the devices five months ago.
The images of the exploded walkie-talkies examined by Reuters showed an inside panel labeled “ICOM” and “made in Japan.” As per its website, ICOM is a Japanese radio communications and telephone company. The company said that the production of several models of this hand-held radio had been discontinued, including the IC-V82, which appeared to closely match the images from Lebanon. A security source said that the devices were purchased by Hezbollah five months ago, around the same time as the pagers.
In retaliation, Hezbollah has vowed to give it back to Israel.
