12 Martyred, 2,800 Injured In Targeted Explosions Of Pagers in Lebanon, Syria

On September 17, local news sources reported a security incident in the Lebanese capital city Beirut and declared that numerous people were seriously injured during the incident.

Minutes after the incident, similar reports were published from other areas of Lebanon, including the Beqaa Valley, and even in the Syrian capital city of Damascus, indicating that the pager (wireless telecommunications) devices exploded almost at the same time for unknown reasons, injuring numerous people.

The Lebanese National Security Agency announced in a statement that wireless telecommunications devices of various types blew up in some areas of the Arab country, injuring a number of citizens.

According to the latest statistics, at least 12 people, including two Lebanese children, were martyred and almost 2,800 others were injured in the deadly incident. Around 200 injured are reported to be in critical condition.

Iran’s Ambassador to Beirut Mojtaba Amani was also injured in the hand and face as a result of the explosion of the pager of one of his bodyguards. The Iranian envoy is in good condition and is undergoing treatment in Beirut. 

At least four people were injured when a pager exploded in a car and were taken to medical centers in the Syrian capital city of Damascus.

Contrary to the allegations propagated by some media outlets, it was not only fighters affiliated with the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah who were targeted during the terrorist pager operation in Lebanon. Many of the guards of residential complexes, park rangers, etc. who used pager devices to monitor residential centers as well as environmental preserved areas, were also injured or martyred during the terrorist attack.

In this context, Hezbollah issued a statement in early hours of the incident, declaring that at around 15:30 Tuesday (local time), a number of message-receiving devices known as pagers, which were used by a number of fighters of different units and institutions of Hezbollah, blew up, in which a young girl and two fighters were martyred and many others were injured.

The competent institutions in the Lebanese resistance movement are now carrying out extensive security and scientific investigations in a bid to find out the causes of the pager blasts at the same time, as well as medical and healthcare staff are also treating the wounded in a number of hospitals in different areas of Lebanon.

Thus far, there has not been details on how the pagers were detonated, but it is obvious that the main culprit in the terrorist incident is the Israeli regime. Initial investigations show that the attack was the result of explosives planted in a great number of pagers. It is conceivable that the stages of the purchase of the pagers was identified by the Tel Aviv regime and sabotage took place before the telecommunications devices reached the hands of Hezbollah fighters.

The Lebanese resistance movement declared in its second statement that following prudently examining all the aspects, data and available information about the brutal aggression that took place on Tuesday evening, Hezbollah holds the Israeli regime fully responsible for this criminal pager attack, which targeted civilians in addition to the military personnel, and led to the martyrdom of several people and the injury of a large number of people; therefore, the traitorous and criminal enemy will definitely be punished for such a brutal aggression.