Hezbollah has just released a statement blaming Israel for the pager blasts.

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

It’s hard to think of an attack more calculated to sow fear and confusion.

Hezbollah relies heavily on pagers for the group’s communications. Mobile phones have long since been abandoned as simply too vulnerable, as Israel’s assassination of the Hamas bomb-maker Yahya Ayyash demonstrated as long ago as 1996.

Hezbollah members were blown up in supermarkets, on the street, in cars, at home and even in barber shops.

Incidents were reported from all across Lebanon, from Beirut to the Bekaa Valley. Even from neighbouring Syria.

Each explosion may have been small, but some resulted in catastrophic injuries. At a time when Hezbollah and Israel are locked in a low-level war, these attacks will have devastating consequences on Hezbollah’s manpower, communications and morale.

Israel has yet to comment, but this was undoubtedly its work.

Is it the prelude to a larger attack? Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, yesterday told the US envoy Amos Hochstein that Israel would "do what is necessary to ensure its security".

There are no signs yet of the sort of build up of men and armour that would be needed for a major military incursion into southern Lebanon, but today’s attacks represent yet another escalation and it’s hard to see how Hezbollah won’t feel compelled to respond in some way.

Many are attributing these explosions to the Israeli security services, who have been engaged in cross-border fire with Hezbollah for months.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

But the events come hours after Israel’s security cabinet made the safe return of 60,000 residents displaced in the north by Hezbollah attacks one of its official war goals.

On Monday, Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said the only way to return Israel's northern residents was through "military action", during a meeting with US envoy Amos Hochstein.

“The possibility for an agreement is running out as Hezbollah continues to ‘tie itself’ to Hamas, and refuses to end the conflict,” a statement from his office said.

Israel has repeatedly warned it could launch a military operation to drive Hezbollah away from the border.

Joe Tidy
Cyber correspondent

Many are pointing to some sort of hack potentially causing the pager batteries to overheat as being the cause of the explosions which would be completely unprecedented.

The prime suspect is of course Israel which has a storied history in carrying out complex and sophisticated cyber attacks on adversaries.

But it seems unlikely that this is how the attack would have been pulled off.

Experts are pointing to the fact that the footage of the explosions is not consistent with a battery overheating.

Early theories are that this was a so called supply chain attack which involved the pagers being tampered with during their manufacture or in transit.

Image source, Reuters

At least eight people have died in Lebanon, and almost 3,000 are wounded, after pagers being used by Hezbollah exploded in southern Beirut and several other areas of the country.

The deaths and injuries have been reported by Lebanon's health ministry, while the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah confirmed an investigation into the cause is under way.

Reports say members of the group - banned as a terrorist organisation in the UK, US and many other countries - have been seriously injured.

Videos and photos on social media appeared to show wounded men sitting or lying on floors and others being rushed to hospitals. Unconfirmed CCTV footage showed blasts in shops.

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