Walkie-talkies and other wireless devices, including systems linked to solar panels, have exploded in Hezbollah's stronghold on the outskirts of Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon , sources close to the group and rescue workers said, with at least 20 people dead and over 450 injured .
It comes in the wake of the pager attacks in Lebanon and Syria , which left 12 dead, including three civilians (two children and a woman), and thousands injured. A good part of today's explosions occurred in the southern suburbs of Beirut, where the funerals of Hezbollah members killed yesterday in pager attacks were taking place. And they were reportedly caused by "booby-trapped batteries" equipped with explosives, imported two weeks ago.
Another Israeli hacker attack, whose hackers managed to blow up the pagers of some Hezbollah members thanks to advanced technology. "A new phase of the conflict begins," warns Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant , "the center of gravity is moving north with the transfer of resources and forces."
Hezbollah Executive Council chief Hashem Safieddine threatened revenge: “ These attacks will definitely be punished in a unique way, there will be bloody revenge ,” he said, quoted by the Times of Israel. Safieddine is a cousin and close associate of leader Hassan Nasrallah. “The enemy should know that we are not defeated, that we will not give in, that we will not retreat and that we will not be influenced by what he is doing,” he said.
And Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib says the explosions of these two days could be a harbinger of a wider conflict in the Middle East . The minister warned of the gravity of the incident, "because it comes after Israeli threats to widen the scope of the war with Lebanon, which would plunge the region into a wider cycle of violence and give the signal of a wider war."
(Unioneonline/L)