AT least 20 people have been killed and more than 450 wounded by a second wave of explosions from wireless communication devices in Lebanon, the country’s health ministry says.
Walkie-talkies used by the armed group Hezbollah blew up in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, the Bekaa Valley, and southern Lebanon – areas seen as its strongholds.
Some of the blasts took place during funerals for some of the 12 people who the ministry said were killed when Hezbollah members’ pagers exploded on Tuesday. Hezbollah blamed Israel for that attack. Israel has not commented.
The attacks came as Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announced a “new phase in the war” and as an Israeli army division was redeployed to the north.
UN Secretary General António Guterres warned of the “serious risk of a dramatic escalation” and called on all parties to “exercise maximum restraint”.
“Obviously the logic of making all these devices explode is to do it as a pre-emptive strike before a major military operation,” he told reporters.
There were already rising fears of an all-out conflict after 11 months of cross-border fighting sparked by the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Hours after Wednesday’s explosions, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to return the tens of thousands of displaced people from the north of the country “securely to their homes”.
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant meanwhile said Israel was “opening a new phase in the war” and that the “centre of gravity is shifting to the north through the diversion of resources and forces”.
An army division recently engaged in Gaza has been redeployed to the north, the Israeli military confirmed.
Hezbollah says it is acting in support of Hamas – which is also backed by Iran and proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel and many Western countries – and will only stop its cross-border attacks once the fighting in Gaza ends.
An indication of what the group might be planning to do next could come on Thursday, when its powerful leader, Hassan Nasrallah, is due to give a speech.
Hezbollah’s media office on Wednesday announced the death of 13 of its fighters, including a 16-year-old boy, since the second wave of explosions.