CNN
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Hundreds of people were injured Tuesday in an attack targeting the pagers of Hezbollah members, a Lebanese security source told CNN, with state media reporting that dozens of members of the militant group were wounded.
Iran’s Ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was among those injured in Beirut, according to Iranian state media. He has a superficial injury and is currently under observation in the hospital, state media IRNA reported, citing his wife.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Health has urged citizens who possess pagers to discard them and warned hospitals to be on “high alert.”
The explosions affected several areas in Lebanon, particularly the southern suburbs of Beirut, according to Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces.
State media NNA reported that “hacked” pager devices exploded in the towns of Ali Al-Nahri and Riyaq in Lebanon’s central Beqaa valley, resulting in a significant number of injuries. The locations are Hezbollah strongholds.
In addition to Amani, two employees of the Iranian embassy were also injured, according to Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency.
The Israeli military, which has engaged in tit-for-tat strikes with Hezbollah since the start of the war in Gaza last October, said it would not be commenting on the incident.
Health workers across Lebanon were asked to report urgently to work given the “large number of injured people being transferred to hospitals” following the pager explosions, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said. Officials also called for people to donate blood in anticipation of increased need.
Videos circulating on social media and news agencies show explosions in various locations that appear to be powerful.
In one CCTV video, a man can be seen picking out fruit in a supermarket when an explosion tears his bag to shreds. Bystanders can be seen running away as they hear the explosion, while the man drops to the ground clutching his lower abdomen. After several seconds, he can be heard groaning in pain.
Social media videos meanwhile showed large numbers of injured people, including at least one child. Those wounded were covered in blood, some with facial and hand injuries as well as flesh wounds.
This is a developing story. More details soon…
CNN’s Sarah El Sirgany, Pauline Lockwood and Hamdi Alkhshali contributed reporting.