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Hezbollah pager explosions: At least 14 wounded in Syria as death toll mounts in Lebanon

Hezbollah pager explosions: At least 14 wounded in Syria as death toll mounts in Lebanon

Deaths were reportedly in the Damascus neighbourhood of Seyedah Zeinab

At least 14 Hezbollah members have reportedly beeninjured in Syria following explosions in their electronic pagers. The explosions were reported fromthe Damascus neighbourhood of Seyedah Zeinab, a Shiite stronghold.

Earlier, ninepeople were reported dead in Lebanon due to a massive wave of simultaneous pager explosions. Hezbollah blamed Israel for the attack, saying, “We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression."

“Fourteen people, whose nationalities are unknown, have been wounded in Damascus and its countryside after pagers used by Hezbollah exploded,” says the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a problematic history of misreporting.

A source close to Hezbollah toldAFP that some of its members have been wounded in pager blasts in Syria, without specifying how many.

Also read:Nine Hezbollah fighters dead; 2,750 injured as ‘Israel explodes’ their communication devices

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror group also condemnedthe simultaneous explosion of pagers held by Hezbollah members in Lebanon and Syria.

“We are fully confident that the Islamic resistance in Lebanon and Syria will be capable of absorbing this vicious blow, contain its consequences rapidly, and respond to the enemy proportionately to the scale of the crime and the targeting of civilians inside their homes, especially the families of resistance fighters,” the PIJ said in a statement.

Meanwhile, aHezbollah official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told a news agency thatthe new brand of handheld pagers used by the group first heated up and then exploded.

It remains unclear at this time how the communication devices used in Lebanon were rigged to explode, he added.

A source close to the group, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, reportedly said the blasts were an “Israeli breach” of its communication system.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Hezbollah has been exchanging near-daily fire with Israeli forces since it began attacking Palestinian ally Hamas after the October 7, 2023 assault on southern Israel.

(With inputs from agencies)

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