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Lebanon's Hezbollah said it held Israel fully responsible for Tuesday's "sinful attack" that injured nearly three thousand people and killed at least nine, including a child, when thousands of pagers simultaneously detonated across Lebanon.
“A number of message-receiving devices known as 'pagers' and carried by a number of people in various Hezbollah units and institutions exploded,” the powerful Lebanese group said.
"After examining the facts, current data and available information ... We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for the criminal aggression that also targeted civilians and led to the martyrdom of a number of people and the injury of a large number with various injuries," Hezbollah said.
Lebanon's Health Minister said that more than 2,800 people were injured and eight killed in the pager bombings across Lebanon. At least 200 of the injuries are critical, he said.
Among those injured – mostly Hezbollah fighters, security sources confirmed to The National – was Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani. The Iranian embassy said his wounds were superficial and that he was in good condition.
The detonations occurred shortly after Israel’s Shin Bet security service announced it foiled a Hezbollah plot to assassinate an Israeli former security official using a remote-detonated bomb.
Images on social media showed people in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahieh lying in blood, some with charred and mangled pagers nearby.
In Beirut, the sound of wailing ambulance sirens echoed through the city hours after the attack.
Many of Lebanon's residents flocked to hospitals to donate blood. A blood donor at the Maqassed hospital in Tariq Jdeedeh told The National that “at least 50 wounded are being treated here. Most injuries are in the eyes, or broken arms and legs, some people are missing fingers … It’s chaos.”
In the Geitawi Hospital, an emergency team rushed into the emergency entrance carrying a man on a stretcher, his head covered in blood and white gauze. The man was one of at least seven critically wounded people currently being treated at that hospital.
“They are all currently undergoing surgery,” medical director Naji Abi Rached told The National, adding that he could not yet comment on their prognosis. “And we are ready to receive more wounded,” he added.
The Health Ministry asked hospitals across the country to prepare themselves “to meet the urgent need for emergency health services”. It requested that health workers head to hospitals “urgently”.
Lebanese citizens were urged by the Internal Security Services to clear roads as rescue services treated and evacuated the injured.
The Lebanese Red Cross said more than 30 of its ambulances were being used throughout the country and that 50 additional ambulances had been put on high alert. The ministry also called on all citizens to stay clear of mobile devices for their safety following the incident.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in February asked residents of south Lebanon to stop using mobile devices and CCTV, as Israeli intelligence services could hack them. It is thought the Lebanese group's use of pagers is an attempt to limit communication that could be exploited by Israel because cell phones can be used to track a user's location.
The United States said it was not involved in nor aware of the pagers detonations that targeted Hezbollah and urged Iran and its allies not to escalate.
“I can tell you that the US was not involved in it, the US was not aware of this incident in advance and, at this point, we’re gathering information,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
"We would urge Iran not to take advantage of any incident to try to add further instability and to further increase tensions in the region," he added.
Hanin Ghaddar, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy called the pager attack “totally unprecedented.”
Ms Ghaddar surmised that Israel, who have not claimed responsibility for the string of explosions yet, must have infiltrated the Lebanese militant group’s supply chain somehow.
“Definitely, there was an interception, they intercepted the supply chain, they intercepted the shipment, they added the explosive component to it, and they waited for the right moment,” Ms Ghaddar told The National.
