BEIRUT (CNN)-At least 14 people are now dead and 450 injured from Wednesday’s walkie-talkie explosions in Lebanon, according to the country’s health ministry. The walkie-talkies were detonated in a fresh wave of explosions, one day after pager blasts across the country killed at least 12 people.
CNN has learned Tuesday’s attack, which targeted militant group Hezbollah, was a joint operation between Israel’s intelligence service, Mossad, and the Israeli military.
The country’s defense minister said Wednesday a “new era” in Israel’s war effort is beginning, tacitly acknowledging Israel’s role in the Hezbollah operation. Israeli officials also notified the US that the country was going to carry out an operation in Lebanon on Tuesday but did not give any details about what they were planning, according to sources.
Hezbollah pledged to retaliate against Israel, and the Lebanese government condemned the attack as “criminal Israeli aggression.”
Dozens of ambulance crews from the Lebanese Red Cross were working to rescue and evacuate those injured after walkie-talkies exploded across the country on Wednesday.
More than 30 teams of Lebanese Red Cross emergency medics were working in southern Lebanon, the central Beqaa valley and the southern suburbs of Beirut. An extra 50 ambulance crews were on alert in Mount Lebanon and Beirut to help with evacuation efforts.
Wednesday’s deadly blasts come just 24 hours after hundreds of pagers exploded, killing at least 12 people and injuring more than 2,800.
The pagers used in a deadly attack in Lebanon on Tuesday were not manufactured in Hungary, despite reported links to a company based in the central European country, a Hungarian government spokesperson said on Wednesday.
It comes after a Taiwanese company, whose trademark appears on the pagers that exploded, said the models used in Lebanon were designed and made by its distributor BAC Consulting — based in Hungary’s capital Budapest.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed alarm at the two consecutive days of communications device explosions in Lebanon.
“Everything must be done to avoid that escalation,” he told reporters during a briefing on Wednesday. The UN chief said the “logic” of making all the devices explode was that of a“pre-emptive strike before a major military operation.”
About The Author
