Eight were confirmed dead and over 2800 people including several Hezbollah members and medics, were reported to be wounded on Tuesday when the ‘pagers’ used by them to communicate exploded across Lebanon, security sources informed media agencies.
A Hezbollah official, whose identity was withheld due to security reasons, said the detonation of the pagers was the "biggest security breach" the group had seen in nearly a year of war with Israel.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah has been engaged in cross-border warfare with Israel since the Gaza conflict erupted last October, the worst such escalation in years.
The Israeli military declined to comment on the detonations.
Iranian Mehr news agency said the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was injured by one of the blasts. The information remains unconfirmed.
The pagers that detonated were the latest model brought in by Hezbollah in recent months, three security sources said.
Ambulances were seen rushing through the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, amid widespread panic. A security source said that devices were also exploding in the south of Lebanon.
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