Israel has launched air strikes on southern Lebanon as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah condemns this week’s fatal exploding devices attacks
Moments before Nasrallah’s televised speech, Israel confirmed fresh strikes; our correspondent in Beirut also hears Israeli fighter jets breaking the sound barrier over the capital
Nasrallah says the device attacks - which killed at least 37 - crossed "all limits, rules and red lines" and paid "no heed to innocent people”
More than 2,600 people were injured when thousands of pagers exploded on Tuesday and walkie-talkies exploded on Wednesday
Multiple sources say Israel's Mossad spy agency was targeting Hezbollah; Israel hasn't commented, but on Wednesday, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announced "a new phase in the war"
Hundreds of people were wounded in the latest blasts involving communication devices used by Hezbollah, a security source tells the Reuters news agency.
Many of the wounds were to the stomach and hands, the source added.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reports that three people have been wounded by exploding “devices” in the town of Sohmar, in the southern Bekaa Valley.
Update at 17:00 BST - This post has been updated to say three wounded, rather than killed, following new information from the National News Agency.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reports that "old pagers" exploded inside homes in the southern suburbs of Beirut, and southern Lebanon.
A number of wounded people had been transferred to hospitals in the capital and in Baalbek, which is in the Bekaa Valley, it added.
One NNA correspondent said two people were injured after a device exploded on a road in the village of Ali al-Nahri, in the central Bekaa.
Another said a pager exploded inside a car near a cemetery in Jdeidet Marjeyoun, in the southern Bekaa.
Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, in Beirut
Ambulances are now arriving in Dahieh, a southern suburb in Beirut - a Hezbollah stronghold.
A large crowd had gathered here for the funerals of four victims of those explosions yesterday, including a young boy and the son of a Hezbollah MP.
At about 17:00 local time (15:00 BST), we heard a large blast here. Details are unclear at the moment, and obviously there is the concern that more attacks could be happening.
Image source, ReutersWe're watching a live stream of the Beirut skyline provided by the Reuters news agency.
In the last few minutes, plumes of smoke have appeared in several locations across the city.
It's unclear at this stage whether these are linked to new reports of explosions.
A security source now tells Reuters that hand-held radios have been targeted in the latest attacks in Lebanon.
A source also says Hezbollah bought the radios five months ago, at the same time as the pagers that exploded yesterday.
Carine Torbey
Reporting from Beirut
Crowds gathered today in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, to bid farewell to four of the people killed in Tuesday's pager explosion when another blast took place.
There were children, women and men of all ages.
The funeral procession was just starting - coffins were about to make their way through very large crowds, gathering to bid those killed farewell.
In the beginning it wasn’t clear if there had been some fireworks - but people started running. There were shouts and some chaos. Men starting running on the scene.
We asked what it was and someone told us another device seems to have exploded.
More details are coming in now about the latest blasts in Beirut.
Walkie talkies have exploded in Hezbollah's Beirut stronghold, a source tells the AFP news agency.
We're now hearing more from Lebanon.
Reuters says, citing security sources and witnesses, communication devices used by Hezbollah have detonated across Lebanon's south in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
As soon as we know more, we'll let you know.
Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, in Beirut
There’s been at least one blast in southern Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, as crowds gather for the funeral of four victims of yesterday’s attack.
Details are still emerging, we'll bring you more as we get it.
Frank Gardner
Security correspondent
Mossad is Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, broadly the equivalent of America’s CIA or Britain’s MI6, but with a much wider remit.
Founded in 1949 just after Israel became a state, its official title is Central Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations.
Officially, it has three functions: overseas intelligence gathering, analysis and covert operations.
In practice, its remit also extends to forging little publicised relations with Israel’s Arab neighbours.
Its current director, David Barnea, has been closely involved in negotiations for the release of Hamas hostages, working with Egypt and Qatar.
But it is Mossad’s covert operations that have gained it the most notoriety. After the 1972 massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, Mossad operatives hunted down and killed everyone responsible.
Before that, a Mossad team kidnapped Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Argentina and brought him to Israel for trial and execution.
More recently, the agency appears to have thoroughly penetrated Iranian security, allowing its agents there to assassinate a number of nuclear scientists and, in July, the Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh in a Tehran guesthouse.
It reportedly has a US$3bn (£2.3bn) annual budget, employs around 7000 men and women and is one of three spy agencies in Israel.
A short while ago Hezbollah said it had carried out a rocket attack on an Israeli artillery position - the first cross-border fire between the two sides since the pager blasts in Lebanon yesterday.
It's worth remembering that since October, there's been repeated exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli military, with the former having fired more than 8,000 rockets at northern Israel and the latter retaliating with air strikes, tank and artillery fire against Hezbollah positions in Lebanon.
In short, while this is the first cross-border fire since the pagers attack, it's not unusual activity.
In a statement published on Telegram, Hezbollah said it had targeted Israeli's artillery positions in northern Israel "with a volley of rockets". Israel has neither commented on the claim nor reported any injuries or casualties.
Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, in Beirut
Lebanon is, again, waiting to see how Hezbollah is going to respond to this latest attack. For almost a year, since the Iranian-backed group started its campaign against Israel saying it is supporting Palestinians in Gaza, this country has been wondering whether it will be dragged into another war with Israel.
Tuesday’s attack might have brought it closer to that. It shocked Hezbollah and the entire country, but it also caused widespread anger.
One of the victims, an eight-year-old girl, was reportedly killed as she was picking up the pager for her father, after it had received a message believed to have been from Hezbollah.
An 11-year-old boy and four healthcare workers in Dahiyeh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in southern Beirut, were also killed, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Around 2,800 people were wounded, it added.
The attack was an unprecedented security breach for Hezbollah. The pagers had been distributed to the group’s members precisely because of concerns that its telecommunications network had been infiltrated by Israel, and that smartphones were being used to track and kill its fighters.
Hezbollah’s powerful leader, Hassan Nasrallah, will react publicly for the first time on Thursday, in a speech to supporters. The group has blamed Israel, vowing to respond. Israel, as usual, has not commented.
Masoud Pezeshkian is now weighing in on the pagers attack, backing Hezbollah’s accusations claiming Israel masterminded the detonations.
In a post published on his official website, the Iranian president also accuses the US and other allies of contributing to the "killings and blind assassinations by the Zionist regime".
Pezeshkian condemns the use of devices "made for the welfare of human beings" to strike potential hostile actors as "an indication of the collapse of humanity as well domination of savagery and barbarism".
The comments come less than an hour after Secretary of State Antony Blinken denied any US involvement in the attack. Israel has declined to comment on the blasts.
Image source, ReutersIraq has sent 15 tonnes of medicine and supplies for hospitals in Lebanon
This morning we brought you two main developments - firstly, that multiple sources were blaming Israel's spy agency Mossad for pagers exploding across Lebanon. And secondly, that the explosions happened earlier than planned, as Mossad feared Hezbollah had become aware of the plan.
Here's what else has been happening today:
Image source, Joy Chiang/BBCPolice in Taipei are investigating Gold Apollo's links to the pagers
Some more details about the Taiwanese firm Gold Apollo that we just mentioned, who claims the pagers used in yesterday's attack in Lebanon were made by a Hungarian firm called BAC Consulting.
Gold Apollo's founder Hsu Ching-Kuang said his company had signed an agreement with BAC three years ago, adding that money transfers from them had been "very strange".
There had been problems with the payments which had come through the Middle East he said, but didn't go into further detail.
Gold Apollo also added that while BAC had licensed their name, it had "no involvement in the design or manufacturing of the product".
Taiwan’s manufacturing system is a complex maze of small companies, many of which do not actually make the products they sell.
They may own the brand name, the intellectual property and have research and design departments. But most of the actual manufacturing is farmed out to factories in China or Southeast Asia.
By Tom Edgington
As we've reported, the exploding pagers were quickly linked to a Taiwanese firm Gold Apollo. But the Taiwanese company has denied involvement, saying pagers bearing its name were made by a Hungarian firm called BAC Consulting.
So, what do we know about this Hungarian firm?
BBC Verify has accessed BAC’s company records, which reveal it was first incorporated in 2022. Its registered address reveals a very nondescript building in a Budapest suburb.
As well as BAC, a further 13 companies and one person are registered at the same building. Our search of databases show few connections to other companies.
This pattern is repeated for other firms registered at the same address.
BAC's website said it was scaling up its business in Asia and had a goal to "develop international technology cooperation among countries for the sale of telecommunication products".
The BBC has attempted to ring BAC a number of times, but there is no answer.
Image source, ReutersDuring his turn taking questions from the press, Antony Blinken says the US "did not know about" and "nor was it involved" in what happened in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday.
He then says the US has been clear about the importance of avoiding steps which could escalate the conflict in the Middle East region.
Blinken then reiterates that the US remains steadfast in getting the ceasefire agreement "over the finish line".
He takes a second question on that point, and says while his trip to Cairo has been focused on "strategic dialogue" between the US and Egypt it has also come at a time when the two are "working as closely as possible at getting the ceasefire".
A "detailed conversation" has been held with Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, Blinken adds.
Image source, ReutersWe've just been hearing from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, as the pair are meeting in Cairo to discuss efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza.
The explosions in Lebanon were not mentioned in either politician's speech, but after being asked by the press about Egypt's response, Abdelatty says Cairo stands in complete solidarity with Lebanon.
Abdelatty also warns that more attacks could lead to a regional war, and he condemns any action that targets Lebanon's sovereignty. Egypt is "very concerned" with stopping any future escalation, he adds.
He says that Israeli aggression in Gaza is "at the heart of this crisis" and says a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war would decrease further escalation.
Image source, ReutersTwelve children were killed in a rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on 27 July
The previously sporadic fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the politically-influential Shia Muslim organisation which controls the most powerful armed force in Lebanon, escalated on 8 October 2023 - the day after Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza.
The militant group began firing at Israeli positions and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have retaliated, using air strikes and tank and artillery fire against Hezbollah positions in Lebanon.
Since then, Lebanon's health ministry says at least 589 people have been killed. Most of them have been members of Hezbollah, but at least 137 were civilians, according to the ministry.
In Israel, authorities say at least 25 civilians and 21 soldiers have been killed as a direct result of cross-border attacks.
Almost 200,000 people have also been displaced on both sides of the border.
Despite the fighting, observers say that up until now both sides have aimed to contain hostilities without crossing the line into full-scale war.
Fears the situation could spiral soared after the killing of 12 children in a rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on 27 July. Israel said Hezbollah carried out the attack, but the group denied involvement.
On 30 July, the IDF announced that it had killed senior Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in an air strike in Beirut's southern suburbs.