Iran’s envoy ‘lost an eye when pager bomb exploded in his face’

Iran’s envoy to Lebanon (pictured left) reportedly lost an eye when a pager exploded in his face during a deadly pocket bomb attack which tore through the country. Thousands of walkie talkies used by Hezbollah fighters detonated across Lebanon today, killing nine and wounding hundreds of people including mourners at a funeral, witnesses and security sources reported.

The second wave of carnage came a day after thousands of exploding pagers used by the group left almost 3,000 people injured and a dozen dead, including civilians and children. Iranian ambassador Mojtaba Amani lost one of his eyes and seriously injured the other when his pager exploded in the attack, according to The New York Times.

Video on social media reportedly showed Amani on a street in the aftermath of the attack with blood on his shirt. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps said he would be taken to Tehran for treatment. In a post on X, Iranian media said he suffered injuries ‘to the hand and the face’ and the Iranian embassy in Beirut denied ‘rumours about the physical condition and vision problems’.

Security sources confirmed that hand-held radios were purchased by Hezbollah five months ago, at around the same time as the compromised pagers. Lebanese media has also reported that home solar energy systems have blown up in several areas of Beirut. The attacks amount to the biggest security breach in Hezbollah’s history, with the group and its backers Iran condemning Israel and labelling it ‘mass murder ‘.

Dozens of victims sustained severe facial injuries, with doctors explaining how they were forced to cut out victims’ eyeballs. Others had their hands blown off, or suffered gaping wounds in their abdomen had they concealed the pager on their hip. Israel has since declared the start of a ‘new phase’ of war in the Middle East, though it was careful not making any official comment on the pager or walkie-talkie explosions.

The head of the IDF, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said Israel has drawn up plans to attack Hezbollah, telling the Times of Israel: ‘We have many capabilities that we have not yet activated. We have seen some of these things, it seems to me that we are well prepared and we are preparing these plans going forward. At each stage, the price for Hezbollah needs to be high.’ A woman educated at the London School of Economics denied making the pagers after her company was linked to the devices.

The latest explosions this afternoon have hit the country’s south and the capital Beirut, where dramatic time-lapse video shows multiple plumes of smoke rising above the skyline in different locations almost simultaneously. Mourners were among the injured after multiple explosions occurred at the site of a funeral for three Hezbollah members and a child who were killed by the exploding pagers yesterday, according to reports. Beirut’s hospitals are reportedly still at full capacity following yesterday’s attacks, with medical aid being rapidly diverted to the already crippled country as it deals with the catastrophe.

The repetition of the clandestine attacks, which Israel has not officially taken responsibility for, will raise already spiking tensions in the region to fever pitch, with Israel moving additional troops to its northern border and Lebanon’s foreign minister warning that the blasts are an omen of a widening war. Without directly mentioning the detonations, Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant praised the work of the IDF and Israel’s security services, telling them ‘the results are very impressive.’ He added that, following months of war in the Gaza Strip, the ‘centre of gravity is shifting to the north by diverting resources and forces.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi accused Israel of pushing the Middle East to the brink of a regional war by orchestrating a dangerous escalation on many fronts. ‘Hezbollah wants to avoid an all-out war. It still wants to avoid one. But given the scale, the impact on families, on civilians, there will be pressure for a stronger response,’ said Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center.

Hezbollah, Iran’s most powerful proxy in the Middle East, said in a statement earlier today that it would continue to support Hamas in Gaza and Israel should await a response to the pager ‘massacre’ which left fighters and others bloodied, hospitalised or dead. At least 14 people are confirmed dead, including at least two children – one girl aged eight and an 11-year-old boy. The Iranian Red Crescent said on Wednesday it had dispatched ‘rescue teams and eye surgeons’ to Lebanon to treat the wounded. Iranian Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement that he ‘condemned the terrorist act of the Zionist regime’, referring to Israel.

Since yesterday’s attack, the IDF revealed this morning that it had struck a number of Hezbollah targets across southern Lebanon, with video showing an aerial raid on one alleged terrorist hideout. ‘Closing a circle from the air, fighter jets attacked the building where the terrorists were operating,’ the IDF said in a statement. ‘In addition, warplanes attacked the organisation’s military buildings in five different areas in southern Lebanon.’ The Israeli military added in a statement this morning that it would ‘continue to operate against the threat of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation in order to defend the State of Israel.’

It emerged today that the UN Security Council will meet before the end of the week to discuss the walkie-talkie explosions. The UN secretary general’s spokesperson said Antonio Guterres is ‘deeply alarmed’ by reports of exploding communication devices in Lebanon and Syria. ‘The secretary general urges all concerned actors to exercise maximum restraint to avert any further escalation,’ Stéphane Dujarric added.

Guterres is calling for an immediate ‘return to a cessation of hostilities to restore stability’. He was speaking to reporters earlier today – around the time the first reports came through of fresh explosions – and he warned of a ‘serious risk of a dramatic escalation in Lebanon’. ‘The logic of making all these devices explode is to do it as a pre-emptive strike before a major military operation,’ he said.

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