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00:00It was 3.30 p.m. local time when surveillance cameras in shops in Beirut and elsewhere in
00:08Lebanon caught footage of it.
00:10A daring operation, no claim of responsibility, the pagers of Hezbollah members exploding
00:16also happened in Syria.
00:18Iran's ambassador to Beirut among the injured, allies with no claim of responsibility, turning
00:24to Israeli services.
00:26For years, militants of Hezbollah have been warned off using cell phones, preferring Ethernet
00:32cables and pagers to communicate.
00:35Our coverage begins in Beirut.
00:37Let's cross to correspondent Rawad Taha.
00:39Rawad, what's the latest?
00:43Good evening.
00:44The latest is a secondary statement by Hezbollah.
00:47So earlier in my conversations with our colleague Nadia, we had a preliminary statement by Hezbollah
00:53that did not officially blame Israel for this series of pagers explosions, where now we
01:00have more than 2,750 wounded across Lebanon, and more than nine have been killed.
01:09The second statement, which was issued just a minute ago by Hezbollah, officially attributes
01:17this series of explosions across Lebanon to Israel, and the statement mentions that
01:25Israel will undoubtedly face just retribution for this assault, and this is the terminology
01:32used by Hezbollah in the statement that was issued just now.
01:36So the preliminary statement said that Hezbollah would be doing an internal investigation.
01:41The second statement issued just now blames Israel officially for this series of explosions
01:48across Lebanon, which led to more than 2,750 wounded people across Lebanon, nine killed,
01:57mostly Hezbollah fighters.
01:59However, one young three-year-old civilian girl was also among those killed.
02:04We know for a fact that the Iranian ambassador in Beirut has also been injured.
02:10In particular, it is clear that the pagers used by Hezbollah are also used, the same
02:17pagers are also used by personnel in the Iranian embassy in Beirut, and probably by different
02:24other allies in Lebanon for Iran.
02:31So we kind of have some sort of a clearer picture of what went on.
02:36However, the number of those who have been killed and the number of those who have been
02:41injured is still on the rise.
02:45Hospitals in Lebanon, especially in Beirut and in southern Lebanon, are at full capacity.
02:53The number of injuries, as I mentioned, is very huge.
02:57This is even, this is a greater number of injuries than what Beirut saw in the aftermath
03:02of the August 4th blast four years ago.
03:06So this is one of the most significant events that has happened.
03:11What are eyewitnesses saying about the scale of the explosions, what they were like?
03:19So the scale of the explosions is very small.
03:23So we saw in those CCTV footage of people just falling in the supermarkets, all of a
03:29sudden the pagers exploded randomly in their pockets or in their hands.
03:35We're seeing one of those videos right away.
03:37So these explosions were very small, but it seems that there has been thousands of these
03:43explosions simultaneously or perhaps within the span of the same 10 to 30 minutes when
03:49this incident has happened.
03:51So very small explosions, particularly affecting those holding the pagers or carrying them
03:57or placing those pagers in their pockets and some people in their surroundings.
04:01But the scale of the explosions are very small, very tiny explosions.
04:06However, we're talking about a significant number of pagers which have exploded between
04:113.30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Beirut time.
04:14Yeah.
04:15And as you were saying at the outset, Rawad, the Iran-backed militant movement saying that
04:22Israel will, quote, get its fair punishment.
04:26Definitely.
04:27So this statement was just issued.
04:29It says that there is clear blame in the second statement, as I mentioned, that this is something
04:35that the Israelis have planned, the Israelis have conducted.
04:38This is according to Hezbollah, of course.
04:41And the terminology used that this, that Israel will undoubtedly face just retribution for
04:47this assault in ways they anticipate and in ways they do not.
04:53So there will be some sort of retaliation to this, this series of explosion, which clearly
05:00Hezbollah now officially blames on Israel.
05:03Rawad Taha, we'll be crossing back to you in the next hour in the France 24 debate.
05:09Many thanks for that update.