BEIRUT: A second wave of device explosions killed three people and wounded more than 100 in Hezbollah strongholds of Lebanon on Wednesday, officials said, stoking fears of an all-out war in the region.
A source close to Hezbollah said walkie-talkies used by its members blew up in its Beirut stronghold, with state media reporting similar blasts in south and east Lebanon.
AFPTV footage showed people running for cover when an explosion went off during a funeral for Hezbollah militants in south Beirut on Wednesday afternoon.
Three people were killed and more than 100 wounded in the latest attacks, the Lebanese authorities said, with the health ministry also describing the devices targeted as walkie-talkies.
It came a day after the simultaneous explosion of hundreds of paging devices used by Hezbollah killed 12 people, including two children, and wounded up to 2,800 others across Lebanon, in an unprecedented attack blamed on Israel.
There was no comment from Israel, which only hours before Tuesday’s attacks had announced it was broadening the aims its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip to include its fight against the Palestinian group’s ally Hezbollah.
Hezbollah said Israel was “fully responsible for this criminal aggression” and reiterated it would avenge the attack, while vowing to continue its fight against Israel in support of Hamas in the Gaza war.
Cross-border exchanges with Israeli forces were “ongoing and separate from the difficult reckoning that the criminal enemy must await for its massacre,” Hezbollah said.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib warned the “blatant assault on Lebanon’s sovereignty and security” was a dangerous development that could “signal a wider war.”
The influx of so many casualties all at once overwhelmed hospitals in Hezbollah strongholds.
At a Beirut hospital, doctor Joelle Khadra said “the injuries were mainly to the eyes and hands, with finger amputations, shrapnel in the eyes — some people lost their sight.”
A doctor at another Beirut hospital, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said he had worked through the night and that the injuries were “out of this world — never seen anything like it.”
Experts said Israeli operatives had likely planted explosives on the paging devices before they were delivered to Hezbollah.
“This was more than lithium batteries being forced into override,” said Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute.
“A small plastic explosive was almost certainly concealed alongside the battery, for remote detonation via a call or page,” the analyst said, adding Israel’s spy agency “Mossad infiltrated the supply chain.”
Among the dead was the 10-year-old daughter of a Hezbollah member, killed in east Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley when her father’s pager exploded, the family and a source close to the group said.
Tehran’s ambassador in Beirut, Mojataba Amani, who was injured, said on social media platform X that it was “a source of pride for me that my blood was mixed with that of the wounded Lebanese” in what he called a “horrific terrorist crime.”
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian condemned the attack, decrying Western support for Israeli “crimes, killings and indiscriminate assassinations.”
The attack dealt a heavy blow to the militant group, which already had concerns about the security of its communications after losing several key commanders to targeted air strikes in recent months.
A source close to Hezbollah, asking not to be identified, told AFP the pagers were “recently imported” and appeared to have been “sabotaged at source.”
After The New York Times reported the pagers had been ordered from Taiwanese manufacturer Gold Apollo, the company said they had been produced by its Hungarian partner BAC Consulting KFT.
A government spokesman in Budapest said the company was “a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary.”
As fears again surged of a regional conflagration nearly a year into the Gaza war, Lufthansa and Air France announced the suspension of flights to Tel Aviv, Tehran and Beirut until Thursday.
Since October, the unabating exchanges of fire between Israeli troops and Hezbollah have killed hundreds of mostly fighters in Lebanon, and dozens including soldiers on the Israeli side.
They have also forced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border to flee their homes.
United Nations rights chief Volker Turk said Tuesday’s attack had come at an “extremely volatile time,” calling the blasts “shocking” and their impact on civilians “unacceptable.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged governments “not to weaponize civilian objects.”
US officials have expressed increasing frustration with Israel, which has rejected American assessments that a deal is nearly complete and insisted on an Israeli military presence on the Egypt-Gaza border.
The October 7 attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, on the Israeli side, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures which includes hostages killed in captivity.
Out of 251 hostages seized by militants, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,272 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to data provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN has acknowledged these figures as reliable.
In Gaza on Wednesday, the civil defense agency said an Israeli air strike on a school-turned-shelter killed five people, while the Israeli military said it targeted Hamas militants.
Three dead, 100 wounded in new wave of Lebanon device explosions
https://arab.news/ns72d
Three dead, 100 wounded in new wave of Lebanon device explosions
- Footage shows people running for cover as explosion goes off during funeral for Hezbollah fighters
- Incident takes place day after explosion of hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah killed 12 people
Bulgaria probes firm’s possible link to Hezbollah pagers
The agency said there was no record the devices had entered the European Union legally via Bulgaria
SOFIA: Bulgaria was looking into the possible involvement of a Sofia-based company in delivering pagers that exploded while being used by Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon, authorities said Thursday.
Hundreds of electronic devices detonated across Lebanon in unprecedented attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing at least 37 people and wounding more than 2,900 others, according to Lebanon’s health minister.
Questions and speculation have swirled over where the devices came from and how they were supplied to Hezbollah.
“Checks are underway with the tax authorities and the interior ministry to determine the possible role of a company registered in Bulgaria in the supply of communications equipment to Hezbollah,” Bulgaria’s state security agency (SANS) said in a statement.
The agency said there was no record the devices had entered the European Union legally via Bulgaria, adding customs had not registered the “said goods.”
The comments came after an article on the Hungarian Telex news site quoted anonymous sources saying that a Sofia-based company called Norta Global had imported the pagers and arranged their delivery to Hezbollah.
Taiwan’s Gold Apollo — whose trademark appeared on the pagers — has denied producing the devices and instead pointed the finger at its Budapest-based partner BAC Consulting KFT.
But Hungary said the company “is a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary.”
Norta Global, which has been listed on the Sofia trade register since April 2022, could not be immediately reached.
The company, owned by Norwegian Rinson Jose, recorded revenue of 650,000 euros ($725,000) last year for management consultancy services.
Lebanon bans pagers, walkie-talkies from flights
- The Lebanese civilian aviation directorate asked airlines operating from Beirut to tell passengers that walkie-talkies and pagers were banned until further notice
- Such devices were also banned from being shipped by air
BEIRUT: Lebanese authorities on Thursday banned walkie-talkies and pagers from being taken on flights from Beirut airport, the National News Agency reported, after thousands of such devices exploded during a deadly attack on Hezbollah this week.
The Lebanese civilian aviation directorate asked airlines operating from Beirut to tell passengers that walkie-talkies and pagers were banned until further notice. Such devices were also banned from being shipped by air, the Lebanese state news agency reported.
At least 37 people were killed and more than 3,000 wounded when pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members exploded in two waves of attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Lebanon and Hezbollah, a heavily armed group backed by Iran, say Israel carried out the attack.
Israel has not claimed responsibility.
The Lebanese army said on Thursday it was blowing up pagers and suspicious telecom devices in controlled blasts in different areas. It called on citizens to report any suspicious devices.
Hezbollah and Israel have been trading fire across the Lebanese-Israeli border for almost a year, in a conflict triggered by the Gaza war.
Sudanese refugees in Egypt caught between conflict and crackdown
- Refugees fear the cards will not shield them from the xenophobia in Egypt that has risen since Sudanese refugees started arriving in large numbers
- The law, enacted in September last year, requires all undocumented migrants, or those whose residency permits have expired, to regularise their status by the end of September
CAIRO: Abdallah Bahr waited with his family for hours in the scorching sun outside the UN refugee agency’ Cairo office, hoping to receive the asylum identification cards that would allow them to stay in Egypt after fleeing Sudan’s war.
They had arrived at 2 a.m. in the morning, and finally got the precious yellow cards at 1 p.m.
“It was like hell over the past months. We were barely leaving home and walking on the streets. Today it is a little bit of a sigh of relief for us,” Bahr, a 32-year-old father of two, told Context.
The long wait was just the latest ordeal for the family, who arrived in Egypt in early January after four days traveling through the desert fleeing war in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.
The cards should offer a degree of legal protection, prevent forced returns and entitle holders to some services, including health care.
But refugees fear the cards will not shield them from the xenophobia in Egypt that has risen since Sudanese refugees started arriving in large numbers after war broke out in their homeland in April last year.
“It is still not safe for us even after we took this card. We are afraid that a police officer would stop us and ask for our residency cards which cannot be issued now and take two years,” said Bahr’s wife, Afrah Idris.
Idris said that over the past months the family had avoided walking on main streets and taking public transport.
“We only went out to areas close to the house, the market, or to visit some friends who live nearby,” the 28-year-old said.
She said two relatives, who did not have residency or asylum cards, were arrested and deported to Sudan three weeks ago.
The war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises and displaced more than 10 million people inside Sudan and beyond its borders.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, says more than 500,000 Sudanese have fled to Egypt since the conflict began.
But now those refugees, people like Bahr and his family and citizens from other African countries, are caught in a legal limbo created by a new Egyptian law.
The law, enacted in September last year, requires all undocumented migrants, or those whose residency permits have expired, to regularise their status by the end of September — extending a previous June deadline.
The administrative fees associated with this process can exceed $1,000, a prohibitive sum for many.
For those unable to meet the requirements, registering as an asylum seeker with the UNHCR is an alternative — and that can take months. Bahr began the process one month after arriving, but only got the cards in September.
“If I had $1,000, I wouldn’t have come to the UNHCR,” he said. “We would not have waited for so long in fear.”
CHANGE OF LAW
Egypt initially facilitated the entry of people fleeing Sudan. But less than two months after the war started, Cairo suspended a treaty commitment to visa-free access for Sudanese women, children and men over 49, slowing entries.
Officials blamed ‘illicit activities,’ including the issuance of fraudulent visas, as the reason for the change.
The visa process proved to be a significant hurdle and instead thousands of Sudanese embarked on perilous journeys across the desert to enter Egypt illegally.
After receiving yellow asylum-seeker cards from the UNHCR in Egypt, Sudanese need an appointment with the Egyptian Immigration and Passport Department to apply for residency.
However, due to the number of applicants, wait times for these appointments have stretched to more than two years.
Some 9 million migrants from 133 countries live in Egypt, the International Organization for Migration said in 2022.
According to the UNHCR, only 770,120 individuals from 62 countries were officially registered as refugees as of Sept 9.
Many others have managed to live and work in Egypt for extended periods thanks to a degree of official tolerance. That was until the new decree was issued.
Seham Mustafa, a parliamentarian with the Nation’s Future Party that backs President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, said Egypt had struggled to deal with the numbers of displaced people.
“To better manage the refugee crisis, Egypt has launched this legislation, which aims to create a comprehensive database of refugees, enabling the government to provide targeted assistance while also ensuring national security,” she said.
SECURITY CRACKDOWN
Since January, the government has intensified security operations to verify the residency status of foreigners.
While there is no official data on the number of foreigners deported from Egypt since last year, Amnesty International said in a report in June that Egypt had carried out mass arrests and unlawful deportations of thousands of Sudanese refugees.
The rights group said it had documented 12 incidents in which Egyptian authorities returned an estimated total of 800 Sudanese nationals between January and March this year without giving them the chance to claim asylum or challenge deportation decisions.
Egypt’s State Information Service and the cabinet spokesperson did not respond to requests for a comment on the Amnesty report.
This crackdown drove thousands of Sudanese refugees to the UNHCR to get registration appointments, and the agency said that had placed a strain on its services.
Each day, said UNHCR communication officer Christine Beshay “we’ve seen an average of 4,000 people coming to our offices, up from 800 before the war.”
Beshay said the number of asylum seekers from Sudan registered before the start of the war in Sudan was 60,779.
“Today, this number is 482,995, and it is increasing daily,” she said.
Beshay said Sudanese people made up 62.7 percent of the total number of asylum seekers registered with the agency in Egypt.
’WE DO NOT WANT SUDANESE’
The arrival of refugees has also inflamed social tensions with some Egyptians blaming Sudanese and other foreigners for driving up rental prices.
Egyptian TV commentators cited what they called the burden of millions of migrants during a period of high inflation and economic strain.
Idris, Bahr’s wife, said she had tried to enrol her two sons in schools in Giza, Cairo’s sister city where many Sudanese have settled, but the schools refused.
“They told us, ‘We do not want Sudanese’,” she said. “My sons have now lost two years of their lives because of this war and because we are not welcomed in Egypt.”
“Where should we go? We do not have any other place.”
Ragaa Ahmed Abdel Rahman, a 27-year-old Sudanese refugee who entered Egypt illegally with her cousin in August, said she wished people could support each other.
She left her mother and two sisters behind in Khartoum, where she worked in a printing shop, because she needed medical treatment.
“My arms have burns due to fighting back in Khartoum,” she said. “If it was not for that, I would never have left Khartoum.”
She is now living with her cousin in the Ard El Lewa neighborhood of Giza in a small apartment that costs them 4,000 Egyptian pounds ($83) per month.
“The landlord told us that the rent would go up to 8,000 Egyptian pounds in a few months. How can we afford that? We only came with very little money.”
37 killed in two days of Lebanon exploding devices: new toll
- Abiad said 25 people were killed on Wednesday and 12 on Tuesday
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Health Minister Firass Abiad said 37 people were killed and 2,931 wounded in a new toll after hand-held devices used by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon, in attacks blamed on Israel.
Abiad said 25 people were killed on Wednesday and 12 on Tuesday, updating an earlier toll of 32 dead overall.
Region ‘closest to war since 1973’: Saudi envoy to UK
- Prince Khalid bin Bandar calls for ‘renewed efforts’ to stop escalation
- ‘The situation on the ground is getting worse and worse,’ he tells Sky News
LONDON: The Middle East is facing its greatest threat of regional war since 1973, the Saudi ambassador to the UK has warned.
On the Sky News program “The World with Yalda Hakim,” Prince Khalid bin Bandar said “renewed efforts” are required to end the bloodshed.
“I’d like to say I was optimistic, but it’s difficult to see where that optimism would come from,” he added.
“The situation on the ground is getting worse and worse ... I think this is the closest we’ve been to a regional war since 1973.”
The Israel-Palestine conflict is at the heart of the tensions, and both sides have a responsibility to avoid escalation, Prince Khalid added.
“The Israeli-Palestinian problem affects people all around the world in a way that very few conflicts have,” he said.
“You see in protests (around the world), everyone is affected and motivated by what’s happening on the ground.
“So Israelis and Palestinians have a responsibility — whether they like it or not — to the world.”
The conflict could have global consequences, requiring the international community to “push harder” in a bid to end the fighting, he said.
“A conflict that spreads beyond where it is, spreads to the region. If it spreads to the region, it spreads to the world, and that’s not a scenario that anybody wants to see,” he added.
“It’s time we put renewed efforts in to stop the fighting … We need more of the international community to push harder.”
His comments come as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a “new phase” in fighting against Hezbollah following the detonation of the Lebanese group’s communication devices this week.
Senior international figures, including the UN secretary-general, have warned that the Israeli attacks could precede a larger operation in Lebanon.
Hezbollah has vowed to respond to the attacks, which killed more than 30 people and injured thousands.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington is assessing how the attacks in Lebanon could affect ceasefire negotiations in the Gaza war.
