By Tuesday afternoon, several thousand more were injured. Pagers to Hezbollah– Members began to explode. Nine people were killed, including Hezbollah members, but a young girl is also said to have been among the dead.
– The events taking place in Lebanon today are extremely worrying and serious. There are reports of thousands of wounded and many dead, including children. The attack has sparked fear and uncertainty throughout Lebanon. There are also reports of dead and wounded in Syria, Foreign Minister Barth Eide tells VG.
He describes the explosions as a large, coordinated and highly advanced attack on Hezbollah.
The whole area is a powder keg.
– We have never seen this before in this way. The whole region is a powder keg. “We have long feared regional escalation, and this could very well contribute to something that would be much bigger,” the foreign minister told TV2.
He tells VG that Norway has long warned of escalation in the Middle East.
He warned that all parties must seek political solutions, not further escalation.
The Foreign Secretary believes it is too early to say how this will develop. The scale and timing of these explosions mean that this represents a serious escalation in an already very tense situation.
“I want to warn in the strongest terms against further escalation,” he tells VG.
He believes that the key to de-escalation and lasting peace for the entire region lies in a ceasefire in Gaza and progress towards the establishment of a Palestinian state and thus a two-state solution.
– We are now working with a number of other countries to use the UN General Assembly, which starts next week, to make progress on all of this.
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image: Anwar Amr/AFP -
Injuries: So far, more than 1,000 injuries have been reported. image: Hussein Al-Mulla / AFP -
Several hundred people are gathering outside hospitals in Lebanon. image: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters/NTB -
image: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters
The Foreign Ministry's press officer, Mattias Rungved, said the Foreign Ministry had no information that any Norwegian citizens would be affected today. He said around 50 people had registered with the Foreign Ministry that they were in the country.
– Since October last year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has advised against travel to Lebanon and urged Norwegian citizens to leave the country. Rungved says this advice still stands.
Two theories
According to three security sources to Reuters, the pagers that exploded were of the latest model that Hezbollah obtained in recent months.
Pagers are small portable devices that can receive messages via radio signals. Experts have two theories about how they suddenly exploded.
- Small amounts of explosives are placed in each pager.
- Pagers are exposed to cyber attackWhich caused the battery to explode.
It is not clear who might be behind the explosions. Hezbollah and many experts VG spoke to still point to Israel.
– Hezbollah has only one enemy and that is Israel, NUPI's senior defense analyst, Pierre-Eric Solly, tells VG.
Israel did not comment on the explosions or claim responsibility.
Read more about expert analysis and theories here.
This is what happened in Lebanon and Syria.
What happened in Lebanon?
Lebanon's health minister tells VG that at least 2,800 people have been infected, including 200 seriously, after Pagers to Hezbollah– Organs began exploding. At least 11 people were killed, including a young girl, according to the country's health minister.
What happened in Syria?
Pagers also exploded in Syria. At least 14 people are said to have been injured here.
What is a pager?
A pager is a portable device that can receive simple messages in the form of radio signals sent from a base unit, e.g. a telephone. It is usually attached to a waist belt or somewhere else close to the body.
Who is Hezbollah?
Hezbollah is a well-known supporter of Hamas and is based in Lebanon. It is an Islamist party, social movement and military organization with roots in Iran. Hezbollah has its largest support among the Lebanese population in the south of the country.
A number of countries consider Hezbollah a terrorist organization, including the United States. The European Union only has the armed wing on its terrorist list, according to SNL.
Who does Hezbollah believe is behind the bombings?
The Associated Press quoted a Hezbollah official, who accused Israel of being behind it. The same goes for Lebanon's information minister, who called it “Israeli aggression.”
What does Israel say about the accusations?
Israel did not comment on the incident or claim responsibility for the explosions.
How can pagers explode?
There are two main theories: one is that explosives were planted in the pagers, and the other is that a cyber attack caused them to explode. Read more about the experts' theories here.
What is a cyber attack?
A cyber attack occurs when someone uses computer technology to damage or disable systems. In this case, it may have been used to manipulate pagers so that they would explode.
Why is this a big problem?
This is a big problem because a lot of people are hurting. And the incident could lead to increased tension and conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.
The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel goes back a long time, but it has recently seen a new escalation.
What happens next?
There are still many unanswered questions, and experts caution against jumping to conclusions. Experts believe the incident could have a mitigating effect, as the attack could scare Hezbollah and hit Hezbollah militarily. But the incident could also escalate tensions between Hezbollah and Israel, leading to retaliatory attacks by Hezbollah.
The “core” of the military infrastructure is being hit.
Cecilie Helstedt, a peace researcher at the Institute of International Law, also sees the incident as significant:
– The number of casualties here is shockingly high, and it looks like a massive attack. It's a massive, large-scale attack.
If Israel was behind the bombings, it says it would be a legal attack under international law. It explains this by the fact that Israel and Hezbollah are in an armed conflict, and that the attack targeted military infrastructure.
Israel has not commented or claimed responsibility for the attack. Hezbollah has blamed Israel.
She points out that compared to the scale of the attack and its military impact, the number of civilian casualties so far appears to be small. This is a point of assessment regarding whether the attack was lawful under international law.
– Hezbollah is a formidable enemy of Israel. Given that Israel is behind the attack, hitting Hezbollah's communications in this way is a major victory for Israel.
– It is a show of force that could be calming. It creates uncertainty about what kind of massive capabilities Israel has to strike Hezbollah at the heart of its infrastructure. Another possibility is that this is Israel’s way of neutralizing one of Hezbollah’s command structures, given that this is how Hezbollah communicates. In that case, it would make Hezbollah less capable of attacking Israel.
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