Nine killed, 2,750 wounded in Lebanon in a series of blasts of pagers

BEIRUT (Palestine Foundation Information Center) At least nine people were killed and about 2,750 were wounded on Tuesday in southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut after the explosion the pager wireless devices they use, in the largest cyber security breach that Hezbollah has been exposed to in years, according to Lebanese security sources.

Meanwhile, the Iranian news agency Mehr reported that the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon was injured as a result of the Israeli cyberattack.

A security source told Reuters that more than 1,200 injuries were recorded in the explosion of portable automatic pagers used by Hezbollah members.

The NBN Lebanese channel said that “the Israeli enemy detonated, using high-tech technology, the handheld pager system of Hezbollah members in more than one place in the southern suburbs of Beirut.”

Lebanese activists and Arab media outlets circulated pictures and footage of the explosions that affected several areas.

The Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed newspaper quoted a source in Hezbollah as saying, “What happened was a dangerous breach, and it is being investigated,” adding that it was not possible to count the number of Lebanese areas in which the pagers were blown up, but information indicates that the operation occurred simultaneously in more than one area.

Al-Jazeera quoted a Lebanese security source as saying that the explosion of the communication devices in Lebanon was caused by a breach using wireless technology, adding that the explosion of the communication devices included areas in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Bekaa, and southern Lebanon.

The official Lebanese National News Agency indicated that a number of injuries also occurred in various towns in the Marjeyoun district in southern Lebanon, in addition to injuries in the Hermel area in the Bekaa in eastern Lebanon.