At least 20 people were killed while over 450 others sustained injuries in multiple walkie-talkie explosions at several locations including a funeral site in Lebanon today, said the health ministry.
The horrible incident came just within a day since a bizarre 'pager attack' killed at least 12 people and injured thousands of others in Lebanon. Furthermore, Lebanon's official news agency highlighted that a number of home solar energy systems exploded as well in several areas of Beirut today.
As per reports, multiple walkie-talkies reportedly exploded in Beirut during the funeral for Hezbollah members and a child killed by exploding pagers yesterday.
According to Hezbollah's Al Manar TV, the explosions in multiple areas of Lebanon were the result of several walkie-talkies detonating. The fresh set of blasts came amid the spiralling confusion and anger over Tuesday's pager bombings, which appeared to be a complex Israeli attack targeting Hezbollah members.
Taking cognisance of the consecutive escalations in Lebanon, the United Nations General Secretary Antonio Guterres's spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said, "The secretary general urges all concerned actors to exercise maximum restraint to avert any further escalation" while adding that Guterres is calling for an immediate "return to a cessation of hostilities to restore stability".
"The logic of making all these devices explode is to do it as a pre-emptive strike before a major military operation," Guterres reportedly said.
In light of the development, the UN Security Council has also decided to meet before the end of the week, said the council's president in a brief statement.
Lebanon pager blast: Hezbollah- Israel feud intensifies
On Tuesday, Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for what appeared to be a sophisticated remote attack that further intensified the simmering conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
In line with the fear, Israeli defence minister on Wednesday declared the start of a "new phase" of war as they initiated mobilising more troops to its border with Lebanon as a precautionary measure.
Earlier Associated Press reported that, on condition of anonymity, officials of Hezbollah said that “several hundred” people, including members of the group, were wounded in different parts of Lebanon when their handheld pagers exploded on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah on Wednesday claimed that it fired rockets at Israeli artillery positions, in retaliation to the deadly pager blasts. However, as of now, no further information is available on when exactly Hezbollah launched the rocket attack.
Who made the pagers?
The AR-924 pagers used by Hezbollah that exploded in an apparent Israeli attack were manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT, a company based in Hungary's Budapest, said Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese firm that authorized the use of its brand on the pagers.
Gold Apollo's chair, Hsu Ching-kuang, told journalists Wednesday the firm has had a licensing agreement with BAC for the past three years.
“According to the cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC,” Gold Apollo said in a statement.
