Illustrative image. Via X.
Handheld radios used by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon on September 18 in another sabotage attack by Israel.
Two sources with knowledge of the attack told Axios that Israel blew up thousands of two-way handheld radios in a second wave of an intelligence operation that started on September 17 with the explosions of thousands pager devices recently imported by Hezbollah. The attack claimed the lives of 12 people, including two children, and left more than 2,800 others wounded. Among those wounded in Lebanon was the Iranian ambassador to the country, Mojtaba Amani.
The new sabotage attack saw handheld radios exploding in several parts of Lebanon, from the Baalbek-Hermel governorate in north, to the capital of Beirut, the Beqaa Valley in the east and the South governorate, the heartland of Hezbollah.
According to preliminary information, the attack claimed the lives of at least three people and wounded more than 100 others. A series of fires was also reported.
Citing its sources, Axios said that the walkie-talkies were booby-trapped in advance by Israeli intelligence services and then delivered to Hezbollah as part of the group’s emergency communications system, which was supposed to be used during a war with Israel. Same was done with the pagers. The sources also alleged that the attack “further damages Hezbollah’s military command and control system.”
Lebanese security sources told Reuters the handheld radios that exploded were purchased by Hezbollah about five months ago at the same time as the thousands of pagers that exploded a day earlier. The radios were also made by Japan’s Icom Incorporated.
Tensions on the Lebanese-Israeli border have been on the rise since Hezbollah and its allies began launching attacks against the Israeli military in response to the war on the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip last October.
The new attack will likely lead to a serious escalation. Hezbollah has already vowed to respond to the last attack with the booby-trapped badgers. From its side, Israel stepped up security measures on its border with Lebanon, and even deployed an elite paratroop unit to the front.
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