2024-09-19 15:28:26
Panic has flared in Lebanon over a series of explosions involving telecommunications devices, with concerns growing about further strikes.
Fears are spreading in local circles: “What if lighters start exploding tomorrow? Imagine you want to light a cigarette and it explodes right in your hand,” eyewitnesses report.
The chain of unprecedented attacks, which Hezbollah links to Israel, has had shocking consequences. The Saudi network Al-Hadath, citing Iranian sources, reported that the Lebanese are panicking and trying to get rid of all wireless devices. Moreover, it was emphasized that the exploded radios are widely used in Iran, which adds to the anxiety of the local population.
The American newspaper New York Times noted that among the exploded devices were not only pagers, but also larger and heavier radios, which some call “walkie-talkies.” Explosions of such devices led to large-scale fires, since the radios contained more explosives. Although the number of victims from radio explosions was less than from pagers (450 versus more than 2,700), the number of deaths from radio explosions was higher – 20 people, while 13 died from pagers.
Hussein Auda, 54, told the Times that he witnessed a terrifying scene that resembled a scene from a movie. He described how a man trying to clear a path for an ambulance in Beirut was seriously injured when his radio exploded in his hands. According to the witness, it all happened in a matter of seconds, and the device simply exploded in the victim’s hands. Hussein worried: “Maybe lighters will start exploding tomorrow?”
The Times commentary noted that the attacks demonstrated “tactical power” but that the long-term goals remained unclear. The major media outlets devoted their headlines to the events: the New York Post ran a cover story with the headline “Beep Beep Boom,” the Daily Mail wrote of a “tech war,” and CNN ran a front-page story with the headline “Hezbollah Radios Explode Across Lebanon.”
Earlier, “Cursor” reported that Lebanese media wrote about the mass explosions of pagers that occurred in Lebanon on September 17. At that time, Hezbollah-controlled journalists wrote that “within one minute, the enemy managed to inflict the most brutal blows on the Islamic resistance since the beginning of the conflict.”