More than 2,700 Hezbollah fighters have been injured with possibly hundreds killed across Lebanon on Tuesday when their pagers exploded simultaneously. The attack has severely crippled the terrorist organization that is waging war against Israel.
Approximately 200 Hezbollah terrorists were in critical condition in 100 different hospitals, Beirut’s health minister announced about three hours after the explosions were first reported at 3.30 p.m. local time.
It’s reported that possibly over a thousand Hezbollah terrorists were killed or injured when a cyberattack on their secure cellphones and pagers caused them to explode.
It’s almost… biblical.
Kaboom 💥 pic.twitter.com/QmK4tJyUsr
— Cheryl E 🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🎗️ (@CherylWroteIt) September 17, 2024
The Jerusalem News Service, JNS.org, reports Lebanon’s Health Minister has confirmed the details.
A Reuters journalist saw 10 terrorists bleeding from injuries in Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiya, which is the main stronghold of Hezbollah. A security source told Qatar’s Al Jazeera that explosions occurred across Lebanon—not only in Beirut but also in the Beqaa Valley and the south.
Senior Hezbollah officials were said to have been wounded in the blasts. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was also wounded in one of the explosions, Tehran’s semi-official Mehr outlet reported.
‘Causes of which are still unknown’
Unconfirmed reports in Arab media claimed explosions also occurred in Damascus, wounding at least dozens of Hezbollah terror operatives.
In its first official statement on the incident, Hezbollah announced its members had been killed.
Shortly thereafter, the terrorist organization issued a statement that it held the Jewish state “fully responsible for this criminal aggression.”
WARNING: Graphic content depicted in X videos below:
Israel just carried out something that will go down in history books.
Hezbollah leadership had switched to using pagers and flip phones so that they can’t be hacked, but Israel hacked thousands of them to explode which has resulted in hospitals in Lebanon being overwhelmed with… pic.twitter.com/mQWuQpQPr4— Yaakov Strasberg (@YaakovStras) September 17, 2024
Lebanese media affiliated with Hezbollah had attributed the incident to the Israel Defense Forces, claiming the mysterious blasts were caused by a hack of the terrorist group’s internal communications networks.
The Wall Street Journal reports the pagers were part of a new shipment that the terror group received in recent days. A Hezbollah official suggested that “malware” may have caused the pagers to heat up and explode.
Another Hezbollah terrorist official in Lebanon cited by Reuters called the alleged computer hack by Israel the “biggest security breach so far.”
The IDF declined to comment to JNS on the incident, which came just hours after the Israeli Cabinet added the return of citizens displaced from their homes in the north to the country’s war goals, bringing a potential major confrontation with Hezbollah closer to reality.
‘Final stages of implementation’
Earlier on Tuesday, the Israel Security Agency internal security service revealed it thwarted an attempt by Hezbollah to assassinate a former senior security official. According to the ISA, the attack had involved an explosive device and was intended to be carried out in the coming days.
The attack was prevented “in the final stages of implementation,” the ISA said. The targeted official has been updated by security forces, it noted, adding that additional details could not be provided “at this stage.”
Iran-backed Hezbollah has attacked Israel nearly daily since Oct. 8, firing thousands of rockets, missiles and drones. The attacks have so far killed more than 40 people and caused widespread damage. Tens of thousands of civilians remain internally displaced due to the violence.
–JNS.org | Used with permission