TEL AVIV: According to Arab media reports, numerous members of Hezbollah in various areas of Lebanon were injured when their communication devices exploded.
Around 70 people have been injured, but the number may be higher. Lebanese sources quoted by Sky News in Arabic claim the blasts were the result of Israeli hacking.
Israeli officials have yet to comment. Some 1,000 Hezbollah operatives so far have been injured by exploding pagers and radios, according to Arab media reports.
Reports suggest that Hezbollah figures in Syria were also injured in the apparently simultaneous blasts. Also injured was Iran’s Ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani.
Social media is rife with videos that caught the explosions, their aftermath, and chaos in Lebanese hospitals. Unverified Arab media reports have attributed the blasts to an Israeli cyber attack.
Notably, Israel’s Security Cabinet on Monday night updated its official war goals to include the secure return of 60,000 evacuated northern residents to their homes.
Nearly 60,000 Israelis were forced to evacuate their homes near the Lebanon border when Hezbollah began launching rockets and drones in October. Hezbollah leaders have said they will continue the attacks to prevent Israelis from returning to their homes. The attacks have killed 26 civilians and 20 soldiers on the Israeli side.
According to figures released by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) Hezbollah fired 1,307 rockets at northern Israel in August, an average of 40 rockets daily. Since October 8, Hezbollah has launched more than 6,700 rockets and drones.
Israeli officials have been calling for Hezbollah to be disarmed and removed from southern Lebanon in accordance with UN Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
Israel’s three other official war goals are the eradication of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, the return of all hostages, and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel.
At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 97 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014. (ANI/TPS)