US says 'no involvement' in Lebanon pager explosion

"I can tell you that the United States was not involved in this incident, the United States had no prior knowledge of this incident and at this time, we are gathering information," US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

A victim of a pager explosion in Lebanon. Photo: Reuters

Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel after a pager explosion killed at least nine people, saying Israel would receive "appropriate punishment" for the blast.

A Hezbollah commander said the incident was the “biggest security breach” for the group in nearly a year of conflict with Israel. Meanwhile, the militant group Hamas said the pager explosion was an “escalation” that would only lead to “defeat” for Israel.

Lebanon's Information Minister Ziad Makary condemned the late afternoon explosion of a pager - a handheld device used by Hezbollah and others in the country to send messages - as "an act of Israeli aggression".

The Lebanese Health Ministry said that in addition to the nine dead, the number of injured remained at 2,750. Hezbollah confirmed in an earlier statement that at least two of its fighters and a young girl were among the dead.

What is a pager and why can it explode?

The New York Times reported that Israel hid explosives in Gold Apollo pagers manufactured in Taiwan before they were imported into Lebanon, citing US officials and others briefed on the operation. The material was implanted next to a battery with a switch that could be remotely activated to detonate it. Meanwhile, CNN reported that Israel was behind the devastating attack.

The UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, condemned the attack in a statement and said it "marks an extremely worrying escalation" in the conflict.

Images of the exploded pager have been circulating on social media.

Hezbollah fighters have used pagers as a low-tech means of communication to try to evade Israeli location tracking, two sources familiar with the group's operations told Reuters this year. A pager is a wireless communications device that receives and displays messages.

Middle East tensions continue to rise

Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, also suffered "external injuries" in Tuesday's pager explosion and is under observation in hospital, Iran's Fars news agency said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi blamed Israel for the pager blast, calling it "terrorism", in a phone call with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib on Tuesday.

The casualties included Hezbollah fighters and their family members, Reuters reported. One of those killed was the son of a Hezbollah member of the Lebanese parliament, Ali Ammar.

"This is not a security target of one, two or three people. This is a target of an entire nation," senior Hezbollah official Hussein Khalil said while offering condolences to Ammar's son.

Air France announced Tuesday evening that it will suspend flights connecting Paris with Beirut and Tel Aviv through Thursday due to security concerns.

Hezbollah says it wants to avoid a full-scale conflict with Israel but that only an end to the war in Gaza can prevent cross-border clashes. Efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza, brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, remain deadlocked after months of negotiations.

Bui Huy (according to AFP, Reuters, NYT)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/my-noi-khong-lien-quan-den-vu-no-may-nhan-tin-o-lebanon-hezbollah-the-se-tra-dua-post312814.html