Two children among 12 dead from pager explosions, Lebanon’s health minister says – Middle East crisis live

In the UK the recently elected chair of parliament’s foreign affairs select committee has suggested that Israel’s allies need to be asking “What on earth are you doing?” after the pager detonation attack in Lebanon widely attributed to Israel.

PA Media in the UK quotes Emily Thornberry, a Labour MP, saying:

We are really concerned about what is happening now in Lebanon. I think the big question is: why? Why is this happening now? And what will the result of that be?

It seems to be yet another escalation of the conflict which is happening in the Middle East, which will affect all of us. And it is very worrying indeed, of course it is, and what the response will be? And is this the first step, and what will Israel do next? Is it part of a larger plan?

It is very worrying and I would certainly be expecting Israel’s friends to be speaking very seriously to them, and saying: ‘What on earth are you doing? Why is this happening now?’

The UK’s Foreign Office has said “We continue to monitor the situation in Lebanon closely and the UK is working with diplomatic and humanitarian partners in the region. The civilian casualties following these explosions are deeply distressing. We urge calm heads and de-escalation at this critical time.”

The UK recommended its nationals leave Lebanon in August due to rising tensions in the region.

Israel is pushing the whole Middle East to the brink of regional conflict by maintaining a dangerous escalation on several fronts, Reuters reports Jordan’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

In remarks after an Islamic and Arab ministerial contact group meeting in Amman to lobby for a Gaza ceasefire, Ayman Safadi said peace would not prevail without a two-state solution. Safadi has kept the foreign ministry portfolio in a new Jordanian cabinet named today.

The death toll from exploding pagers in Lebanon has risen to 12, and includes two children, Lebanese health minister Firass Abiad said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

About 3,000 people, including civilians, are reported to have been injured by the wave of explosions that struck Lebanon yesterday. While there has been no official claim of responsibility, the attack, which appears to have been chiefly aimed at Hezbollah operatives, has been widely attributed to Israel.

Lebanon’s information minister Ziad Makary has said the country is preparing to put a complaint to the UN security council over the incident, which he called “a blatant attack on Lebanese sovereignty, that targeted civilians, not only Hezbollah members.”

Lebanon has received medical aid today from Iran, Iraq and Jordan, and Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said his country rejects any attempts at escalation in the region, offering support to Lebanon. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan conveyed his sadness over the deadly pager blasts to Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati in a phone call. The Anadolu news agency reported that Erdoğan told Mikati that Israel’s attempts to spread conflicts in Gaza to the wider region were dangerous and that efforts to stop Israel would continue.

Russia’s foreign ministry has said the attack was “deliberately” designed to “provoke a major war in the Middle East”, and spokesperson Maria Zakharova described it as “yet another act of hybrid warfare against Lebanon which has harmed thousands of innocent people”, and demanded an investigation.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani described it as “terrorist operation … [that] contravenes all moral and human principles, international law, especially international humanitarian law, and warrants international criminal prosecution, trial, and punishment.”

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan conveyed his sadness over the deadly pager blasts in Lebanon to Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati in a phone call on Wednesday, Reuters reports Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu news agency said.

Erdoğan also told Mikati in the call that Israel’s attempts to spread conflicts in Gaza to the wider region were dangerous and that efforts to stop Israel would continue, Anadolu added.

Lebanon’s minister of information has said the country is preparing to take a complaint to the UN security council over the mass detonation of pagers yesterday which killed at least nine people and injured nearly 3,000 others.

Although there has been no official statement of responsibility, the attack has been widely attributed to Israel.

Lebanon’s state national news agency reports that Ziad Makary described the explosions as “a blatant attack on the Lebanese sovereignty, that targeted civilians, not only Hezbollah members.”

Makary said:

What we fear is not Hezbollah, but Israel’s criminality, whether in Gaza or Lebanon. Lebanon is preparing a complaint to submit to the UN security council, and the ambassadors of certain states concerned with this never-ending conflict between Lebanon and the Israeli enemy will be summoned. The enemy does not care about anybody, not even about the constant and public US pressures. US diplomacy must intensify its pressures on Israel before it does on Hezbollah and Lebanon.

In addition to an earlier statement by Russia’s foreign ministry that the detonation of pagers in Lebanon had been deliberately designed to “provoke a major war in the Middle East”, the Kremlin has additionally said that the incident could become a trigger for a wider regional conflict.

Speaking in Moscow, Reuters reports Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the media “The causes and circumstances of the incident must be established and those behind it must be identified.”

According to a report in Tass, Peskov added “Of course, this should become a subject of study by specialists in order to take measures to eliminate similar risks here and in other places.”

In its latest operational update on its official Telegram channel, Israel’s military has said that in the last few hours it has intercepted a suspicious aerial target that crossed into Israel from the direction of Lebanon, and that Israeli fighter jets intercepted a UAV “that was approaching from Iraq”.

The claims have not been independently verified.

Russia’s foreign ministry has said the attack on Lebanese group Hezbollah and others using exploding pagers was designed to “provoke a major war in the Middle East”. The detonation of the devices has been widely attributed to Israel.

Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry, said in a statement:

We regard what happened as yet another act of hybrid warfare against Lebanon, which has harmed thousands of innocent people. It appears that the organisers of this high-tech attack deliberately sought to foment a large-scale armed confrontation in order to provoke a major war in the Middle East.

Earlier Zakharova said that the incident should be investigated, and said that the international community should be paying close attention to the event.

At least nine people have been killed and nearly 3,000 wounded by the detonation of the pagers. Among the wounded was Iran’s envoy to Beirut.

Reuters reports that a statement from the Egyptian presidency said president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told visiting US secretary of state Antony Blinken that Egypt rejects any attempts at escalation in the region and that Egypt supports Lebanon after the pager blasts incident.

The funeral of Fatima Abdallah, the 10-year-old girl killed during the wave of pager detonations that struck Lebanon yesterday afternoon, has been taking place in the village of Saraain in the Bekaa valley in Lebanon.

The detonations have been widely attributed to Israel, although there has been no official confirmation from Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which rarely comments on Israeli operations outside its borders. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 people were wounded in the blasts. About 200 of the wounded are reported to be in critical condition.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken and his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty have met in Cairo. Blinken earlier met with Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Blinken will head from Cairo to Paris on Thursday for a meeting with the foreign ministers of France, Italy and Britain to discuss the Middle East and Ukraine and other issues, Reuters reports a state department official said. Blinken will also meet French President Emmanuel Macron, the official said.

Blinken will not visit Israel on this trip to the Middle East, his tenth to the region since 7 October, and the first time he has not stopped in Tel Aviv as part of his intinerary.

Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, speaking in St Petersburg, has told the Russian media that “what happened [in Lebanon] yesterday requires an investigation and international attention to this issue.”

The IDF has reported on its official Telegram channel that warning sirens are sounding in northern Israel.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that medical crews have recovered ten bodies from areas north of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.

In a statement on its official Telegram channel, Israel’s military has claimed that on Tuesday its air force struck “Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure sites in five different areas in southern Lebanon,” and that additionally IDF artillery “struck in several areas in southern Lebanon.”

In the statement the IDF said it “will continue to operate against the threat of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation in order to defend the state of Israel.”

Thousands of people in Israel and Lebanon have been displaced from their homes after months of Hezbollah and Israel exchanging fire over the UN-drawn blue line that separates the countries.

The IDF’s claims have not been independently verified.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson has condemned the pager detonations in Lebanon as a “terrorist operation”, which he described as “a form of mass killing” and a contravention of “international humanitarian law”.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency quotes Nasser Kanaani saying:

[Tuesday’s] terrorist operation in Lebanon was carried out as a continuation of the Zionist regime’s combined operations and their mercenary agents. It contravenes all moral and human principles, international law, especially international humanitarian law, and warrants international criminal prosecution, trial, and punishment.

This combined terrorist act, which is, in fact, a form of mass killing, once again clearly proves that the Zionist regime, in addition to committing war crimes and genocide against the Palestinian people, has placed regional and international peace and security in serious jeopardy. Accordingly, confronting the regime’s terrorist actions and the threats arising from it is an evident necessity, and the international community must act promptly to combat the impunity of the Zionist criminal officials.

Iran’s government has promised support for Lebanon, and Al Jazeera reports that Iran’s Red Crescent has sent a medical delegation to Beirut to assist with the wounded. A shipment of medical aid from Iraq has also landed at Beirut International Airport. At least 200 of the nearly 3,000 people wounded in the attack are reported to be in critical condition.

Lebanon’s culture minister Judge Mohammad Wissam Al-Mortad has this morning issued a statement on social media, saying “In our struggle with the Israeli enemy, there are two truths: that its evil is limitless, and that our victory is undoubtedly coming. What [Israel] did yesterday provides evidence after evidence of its hostility to humanity, and of the resistance’s ability to stand firm on the road to victory. Israel’s days are numbered. May God have mercy on the martyrs, heal the wounded, and comfort the hearts.”