A day after pagers detonated in Lebanon, a series of explosions rocked the country again after hand-held radios or walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members e🧸xploded on Wednesday.
The Lebanese health mini💝stry has stated that 20 people were killed and over 450 𓆏were injured after the blasts on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the death toll from Tuesday's pager blasts rose to 12, including two children and has left nearly 3,000 injured.
The blasts in Lebanon, which have been labelled as the biggest security breach in Hezbollah's h🌳istory, pౠlayed out alongside Israel's ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
Wednesday's attack also came after Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant declared the start of a "new phase" of the war. "We are opening a 𒐪new phase in the war. It requires courage, determination and perseverance from us," said Gallant
While Hezbollah, Lebanon and the world have alleged an Israeli link, the Netanyahu-led government has stayed mum ab✱out the blasts.
The recent blasts in Lebanon have been viewed 🐼as an escalation🦋 of the ongoing tensions in the Middle East. Jordan's foreign minister Ayman Safadi has accused Israel of pushing the region to the brink of a regional war.
The United States, a s🌃taunch ally of Israel, has denied any involvement in the blasts and stated that it is pursuing "intensive di꧟plomacy" to scale back any escalation of the conflict.
Hezbollah's Use Of Outdated Devices
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and its members switched out to low-tech communication devices such as pagers and han🦋d-held radios as part of an atte𝄹mpt to evade Israeli surveillance of mobile phones.
Wednesday's attack targeted the walkie talkies used by Hezbollah members. As per reports, this radios showed labels with "ICOM" and "made in Japan" written on them. ICOM is a Japan-based radio comꦏmunication and technology company.
While a detailed comment from the company is awaited, the models found i𒁃n Lebanon - IC-V82 - had been phased out by ICOM in 20✅14.
As per security sources, the hand-held radios had been purchased by Hezbollah members around five months ago, the same𓃲 time as the pagers.
