Exploding pagers wound

Beirut, Lebanon — Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement said Tuesday that “a large number” of its members were wounded and at least three people killed when pagers carried by its members exploded simultaneously in locations across its Beirut and south Lebanon strongholds. Lebanese officials and Hezbollah blamed Israel, and the powerful militant group vowed to take revenge against Israel for what it called a “sinful aggression.”

“We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression, which also targeted civilians and led to the martyrdom of a number of people and the injury of a large number,” Hezbollah said in a statement, vowing that the “treacherous and criminal enemy will certainly receive its just punishment for this sinful aggression, whether it expects it or not.”

The unusual, clearly well-orchestrated attack comes amid rising concern in Washington that Israel could launch a full-scale assault on Hezbollah as it continues waging its war with the group’s ally and fellow Iranian proxy group Hamas in Gaza. 

Earlier, Hezbollah said one girl and at least two of its members were among those killed by the explosions. Lebanon’s public health minister Dr. Firass Abiad was quoted by numerous media outlets as saying at a news conference that at least eight people were killed in total and around 2,800 others wounded by the explosions. 

Lebanese state TV said Iran’s ambassador to the country, Mojtaba Amani, was wounded by one of the blasts, but that he was “conscious and in no danger.”

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 was 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.

Israel-Hezbollah violence has increased for weeks

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.

Concern has mounted in recent weeks that Netanyahu will order a full-scale military operation in southern Lebanon, despite warnings from the U.S. and other allies that such an offensive could spiral quickly into a much wider regional conflict, possibly prompting further attacks by Iran’s proxy groups on U.S. forces in the region. 

Hezbollah has fired rockets at northern Israel since the country launched its war in Gaza on the group’s Hamas allies, who are also supported by Iran. The war, sparked by Hamas’ unprecedented Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, has left more than 42,000 people dead in Gaza and fueled tension across the volatile Middle East.

Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border since early October. Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have killed more than 450 people, mostly Hezbollah members, in Lebanon over the last 11 months, while on the Israeli side, 21 soldiers and 13 civilians had been killed by late July by fire from Lebanon.

This breaking news story will be updated.

contributed to this report.