Hezbollah vows ‘another reckoning’ against Israel after pager explosions

Hezbollah’s attacks against Israel, which started in October in support of its ally Hamas in Gaza, were “separate from the difficult reckoning that the criminal enemy must await for its massacre on Tuesday,” Hezbollah said in a statement Wednesday.

“This is another reckoning that will come,” it added.

Israel’s military, which often does not announce its overseas operations, declined to comment on whether it was responsible. Experts said the attack appeared to be a sophisticated and preplanned operation, relying on the placement of explosives in the devices sometime before Hezbollah distributed them.

A Taiwanese pager manufacturer, Gold Apollo, whose logo was seen on some of the destroyed pagers, said it did not make the devices that exploded in Lebanon. The company said Wednesday in a statement that the pagers in question were “entirely handled” by a company called BAC Consulting Kft. The Hungarian company was authorized to use Gold Apollo’s brand trademark in some regions, it said. BAC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The attack came as Israel signaled increased attention to its border with Lebanon. Officials said this week that military action against Hezbollah was needed to allow thousands of northern residents to return home, in a sign that Israel was shifting its focus from the war against Hamas in Gaza.

In Lebanon, the attack was seen as a broad and terrifying assault on the country and was widely condemned, including by Hezbollah’s critics. Casualties were reported in Beirut, the capital; towns in southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel; in the coastal city of Tyre; and in the northern part of the country.

The shock of the pager detonations — in the middle of the afternoon, shortly after schools were let out — was likened to the aftermath of a deadly port explosion in 2020 that killed more than 200 people and injured thousands.

Those killed Tuesday included an 8-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy, Abiad said Wednesday. Four-hundred and sixty surgeries were performed, including on people with injuries to their faces, eyes and fingers, and 300 remained in critical condition, he said. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon was among those injured, the state-run news agency said. Iraq’s government sent doctors and other health workers to Lebanon, along with more than 15 tons of supplies and medical aid, Abiad said.

Schools and universities were closed Wednesday as unions called strikes in sympathy with the victims. “We reiterate our calls for the highest levels of national solidarity in these difficult circumstances,” Ibrahim Mneimneh, an independent member of Lebanon’s parliament, wrote on X.

Foreign governments warned the attack could be a prelude to escalation in Israel’s hair-trigger confrontation with Hezbollah.

The British government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said in a statement to U.K. news outlets that the deaths of civilians in the explosions were “deeply distressing” and urged “calm heads and de-escalation.”

The FCDO also updated its travel advisory for Lebanon — it “advises against all travel” there — with a section on the incident. It said hospitals in Lebanon “may be very busy as a result” of the explosions and warned British nationals in the country to “expect an increased presence of Lebanese Armed Forces in affected areas.”

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty called Lebanon’s president and foreign minister Tuesday to convey Cairo’s “full support” for Lebanon and offered to provide any assistance needed, Foreign Ministry spokesman Tamim Khallaf said in a statement. Abdelatty conveyed “Egypt’s keenness on the security and stability of Lebanon and the non-violation of its sovereignty by any outside party” and warned against regional escalation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a phone call with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, expressed sorrow over the casualties and said “Israeli attempts to spread conflicts in region are dangerous and efforts to stop Israel will continue,” in comments quoted by the state-run Anadolu news agency. Erdogan has been a vocal critic of Israel’s war in Gaza.

American officials declined Tuesday to publicly offer any further information about the explosions and said the United States was not involved with or warned about the apparent attack.

“The U.S. was not involved,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. “We were not aware of this incident … ahead of time.” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the U.S. government is investigating what took place and urged all parties involved not to escalate tensions.

When asked about reports that the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon was injured in the explosions, Miller said: “As is always the case, we would urge Iran not to take advantage of any incident, any instability to try to add further instability and to further increase tensions in the region.”

Fahim reported from Istanbul and Timsit from London. Suzan Haidamous in Beirut and Claire Parker in Cairo contributed to this report.