Lebanon’s health minister: two children among 12 dead from pager explosionsThe death toll from exploding pagers in Lebanon has risen to 12, and includes two children, Lebanese health minister Firass Abiad said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.
About 3,000 people, including civilians, are reported to have been injured by the wave of explosions that struck Lebanon yesterday. While there has been no official claim of responsibility, the attack, which appears to have been chiefly aimed at Hezbollah operatives, has been widely attributed to Israel.
Lebanon’s information minister Ziad Makary has said the country is preparing to put a complaint to the UN security council over the incident, which he called “a blatant attack on Lebanese sovereignty, that targeted civilians, not only Hezbollah members.”
Lebanon has received medical aid today from Iran, Iraq and Jordan, and Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said his country rejects any attempts at escalation in the region, offering support to Lebanon. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan conveyed his sadness over the deadly pager blasts to Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati in a phone call. The Anadolu news agency reported that Erdoğan told Mikati that Israel’s attempts to spread conflicts in Gaza to the wider region were dangerous and that efforts to stop Israel would continue.
Russia’s foreign ministry has said the attack was “deliberately” designed to “provoke a major war in the Middle East”, and spokesperson Maria Zakharova described it as “yet another act of hybrid warfare against Lebanon which has harmed thousands of innocent people”, and demanded an investigation.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani described it as “terrorist operation … [that] contravenes all moral and human principles, international law, especially international humanitarian law, and warrants international criminal prosecution, trial, and punishment.”