Thousands of Hezbollah members are reportedly injured, and at least a dozen killed after Israeli forces allegedly found a way to remotely hack into members’ old-school pager devices and make them explode in unison.
The alleged pager attack was initially reported by local media in Lebanon to have taken place in the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, with further reports of deadly pager explosions in Syria.
“Dozens of Hezbollah members are seriously wounded in the incident, security sources tell Reuters, with a journalist for the news agency seeing ten Hezbollah members bleeding from wounds,” The Times of Israel reported.
Since the initial report, a Times update said nine people are confirmed killed and close to 2800 more injured, citing Lebanon’s health minister.
Several images and videos since posted on X, taken around 4 p.m. local time in Dahiyeh, show chaotic scenes and blast debris.
One X user posted this video, captioned “Utterly Insane,” showing the moment one of the devices exploded on the body of an alleged Hezbollah fighter shopping in a local market.
The Times said the Saudi-owned Alhadath news channel quoted “unnamed sources” stating that the victims of the coordinated blasts included “top Hezbollah leaders and their advisers.”
The Saudi news channel also reported that “hundreds of pagers” were detonated at the same time. Around 500 Hezbollah members are said to have lost their eyesight.
Hezbollah is a US-designated terror organization, backed by the Iranian government. A senior member of the group announced to Reuters that its main leader, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, was not injured.
About three hours after the attacks were reported in Beirut, it was revealed deadly pager attacks also took place in the Syrian capital of Damascus.
“Seven people have been killed… according to Iran’s IRGC-affiliated Saberin News. The fatalities were reportedly in the Damascus neighborhood of Seyedah Zeinab, a Shiite stronghold,” the Israeli news outlet said.