Sources close to Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement told the French news agency AFP and other outlets that dozens of the group’s members were injured Tuesday when their pagers exploded in the Iran-backed group’s Beirut and south Lebanon strongholds, with another source accusing Israel. WATCH VIDEO OF ONE OF THE EXPLOSIONS ABOVE.
The Associated Press quoted a Hezbollah official as saying “several hundred” people were wounded by the device explosions around the country, including its members.
Lebanon’s state-run TV said Iran’s ambassador to the country, Mojtaba Amani, was injured by one of the blasts, but that he was “conscious and in no danger.”
Click here to read the one book President Trump recommends you read before Election Day!
“Dozens of Hezbollah members have been wounded in the south and in Beirut’s southern suburbs after their pagers exploded,” a source close to the group told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss the matter. Another source close to Hezbollah told AFP the incident was a result of an “Israeli breach” of its communications.
There was no immediate comment on the explosions by Israeli officials, and government ministers belonging to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party were told not to issue any.
The CBS News Confirmed team is working to verify a number of videos that quickly started spreading on social media, some showing people going about their daily activities when they’re seemingly struck by explosions on or near their bodies, and others showing the bloody aftermath of what appeared to be small explosions.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health issued statements Tuesday asking all health workers to urgently head to their workplaces to contribute to emergency care for the large number of casualties coming into hospitals after the explosions.
Hezbollah has relied increasingly on low-tech communications methods in a bid to circumvent Israeli electronic surveillance amid the killing of the group’s senior members, including top commander Fuad Shukr, who was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut in July.
According to a Reuters report in June, Hezbollah commanders have banned cell phones in some areas and ordered members to rely instead on pagers and in-person communications.
The blasts in Lebanon come after weeks of increasing crossfire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, which is based across Israel’s northern border in Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to oust Hezbollah militants from southern Lebanon to stop the regular volley of rocket fire aimed at his country.