Attacks rattle Lebanon

Hezbollah blames Israel after co-ordinated explosions targeting pagers used by militant group leave at least nine dead, thousands wounded

- BASSEM MROUE, ABBY SEWELL AND KAREEM CHEHAYEB

Pagers used by hundreds of members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded near-simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday, killing at least nine people -including an eight-year-old girland wounding several thousand, officials said. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for what appeared to be a sophisticated remote attack.

Among those wounded was Iran's ambassador to Lebanon. The mysterious explosions came amid rising tensions between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, which have exchanged fire across the IsraelLebanon border since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that sparked the war in Gaza.

The pagers that blew up had apparently been acquired by Hezbollah after the group's leader ordered members in February to stop using cellphones, warning they could be tracked by Israeli intelligence.

A Hezbollah official told the Associated Press the pagers were a new brand, but declined to say how long they had been in use.

At about 3:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday, as people shopped for groceries, sat in cafés or drove cars and motorcycles in the afternoon traffic, the pagers in their hands or pockets started heating up and then exploding leaving blood-splattered scenes and panicking bystanders.

It appeared that many of those hit were members of Hezbollah, but it was not immediately clear if others also carried the pagers.

The blasts were mainly in areas where the group has a strong presence, particularly in a southern Beirut suburb and in the Beqaa region of eastern Lebanon, as well as in Damascus, according to Lebanese security officials and a Hezbollah official. The Hezbollah official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.