Hezbollah Holds Israel Responsible for Cyber Terrorist Attack in Lebanon

The Lebanese Internal Security Forces announced on Tuesday, September 17, that thousands of pagers or wireless communication devices exploded in a number of areas across Lebanon, including in the southern suburb of the Lebanese capital of Beirut. The attack reportedly targeted pagers held by members of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah.

The explosion of the pagers killed at least nine people, including a child, and injured over 3,000 others. Videos that have circulated online of the explosions, illustrate how many occurred in public places and caused transit accidents, secondary injuries, and general chaos.

According to media reports, Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani was among the people who sustained injuries in the attacks, and was transported to a hospital to receive treatment. Some casualties were also reported in Syria’s southwestern governorate of Rural Damascus. Mahdi Ammar, son of Ali Ammar, a member of parliament with Hezbollah’s Resistance Loyalty Bloc, was also killed in the attacks.

Hezbollah movement stated on Tuesday that the pagers, which exploded, were in the possession of a number of workers at various Hezbollah units and institutions, and that the reasons behind their explosion were still unknown. The movement also announced that investigations have been under way to unveil the reasons and the circumstances behind the simultaneous explosions. According to Reuters, the detonated pagers were acquired by Hezbollah in recent months.

“Hezbollah’s competent agencies are currently conducting a wide-ranging security and scientific investigation to determine the causes of those simultaneous explosions. Likewise, medical and health agencies are treating the wounded and injured at a number of hospitals in various Lebanese regions,” Hezbollah said in a statement. In the statement, the movement urged the Lebanese people “to be aware of the rumors and false as well as misleading information that some parties are spreading in a way that serves the psychological war of the Zionist enemy.”

Hezbollah issued another statement later on Tuesday holding Israel fully responsible for the attack, which injured thousands including civilians and Hezbollah members. The statement was issued after the movement scrutinized the facts, current available data, and information about the attack. The statement also stressed that the attack will not deter Hezbollah from continuing its support to the Palestinian people. “Our martyrs and wounded are the symbol of our struggle and sacrifices all the way to Al-Quds in triumph of our honorable people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and continuous support,” Hezbollah added in the statement, concluding it with a pledge to justly punish Israel for what it described as a sinful aggression.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement condemned the attack in a statement describing it as a “war crime”. “The treacherous operation carried out by the Zionist entity’s devices through the explosion of dual-use communication equipment is a documented war crime. It inflicted severe damage on a large number of innocent civilians inside their homes with premeditated malice,” Islamic Jihad said in its statement. “Although the enemy’s resort to this option is intended within the framework of psychological and intellectual warfare, it indicates the level of frustration and the narrow options they now have after the blows they have received from multiple fronts supporting the Palestinian people,” Islamic Jihad added.

The spokesperson of Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement Mohammad Abdul Salam also condemned the attack in a post on his platform on X describing it as a crime and a violation of Lebanese sovereignty. A number of countries also officially condemned the deadly series of explosions in Lebanon vowing to provide necessary medical assistance to the Lebanese people, including Jordan, Iran, and Palestine.

Meanwhile, the United States denied being aware of the attack. On Tuesday, the US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the US “was not aware of this operation and was not involved in it”. Miller added that the US “is still gathering information about the explosions in Lebanon”. The unprecedented deadly cyber attacks came after Israeli media outlets recently reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to expand a military operation on the northern front with Lebanon.