The detonation of electronic devices across the country is an unspeakable crime, said Najib Mikati
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati says his nation is at war after electronic devices exploded across the country for two days in a row, killing more than 30 people and injuring thousands more.
On Tuesday, two pagers used by members of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah detonated simultaneously, killing 12 people and wounding nearly 3,000, according to health authorities. Another 20 people were killed and 450 wounded the next day when thousands of other electronic devices, including walkie-talkies, laptops and radios, exploded.
Hezbollah and the Beirut government have blamed Israel for the attacks. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility. Media have claimed that Israel’s secret service, the Mossad, planted thousands of electronic devices with small explosive charges that were activated by a remote signal.
Mikati was visiting a hospital where victims of the first wave of explosions were being treated when reports of more explosions came in on Wednesday, according to the prime minister’s office.
“This mass crime… against defenseless people in their homes, who are being killed in this way, is indescribable,” Mikati told reporters.
He insisted that Lebanon is in a state of war with Israel. “This war started about 11 months ago and is affecting our people in the south, where their homes are being destroyed,” said.
Mikati was referring to the regular exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli army on the border, as well as the Jewish state’s airstrikes on Lebanese territory that began after the Palestinian armed group Hamas’s incursion into Israel on October 7 last year.
The prime minister again blamed Israel for the explosions of electronic devices, saying the Jewish state “The entire history of the last 75 years has been criminal.”
“We are facing an enemy that does not respect any international or humanitarian law, and the question is: can it continue like this? Where is the UN, whose primary mission is to distribute peace?” Mikati asked.
He added that he had instructed Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib to ensure that attacks on the country are addressed by the UN Security Council.
Following the second wave of electronic explosions on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that “a new stage” The nearly year-long war in the country was just beginning, and the focus was shifting from Hamas in Gaza to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
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“The centre of gravity is shifting northwards. We are diverting forces, resources and energy to the north.” Gallant told the Israeli troops.
