Walkie-talkies and solar equipment exploded in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon on Wednesday in an apparent second wave of attacks targeting devices a day after pagers used by Hezbollah blew up, state media and officials for the militant group said. At least 20 people were killed and more than 450 wounded in the second wave, the Health Ministry said.
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00:00At least nine people were killed and 300 injured by a new wave of device explosions, Lebanon's
00:05health ministry said, this time apparently targeting walkie-talkies belonging to members
00:11of Hezbollah across Lebanon.
00:13The explosions were first held at funerals for members of the powerful group who died
00:17Tuesday after hundreds of pagers exploded almost simultaneously in parts of Lebanon
00:22and Syria.
00:23The incident also comes a day before Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is scheduled to speak
00:28about the last wave of explosions as tensions continue to boil.
00:32A senior official from Hezbollah was present at one of the funerals in Beirut's southern
00:36suburbs today, where he reiterated Hezbollah's vows to retaliate against Israel.
00:42The Israeli military declined comment on both incidents.
00:45However, Defense Minister Yoav Golan declared what he called a new phase of the war, as
00:50Israel focuses attention less on Hamas and the Gaza Strip and more towards Hezbollah.
00:56Now, these devices for Hezbollah are a means for them to sidestep what's believed to be
01:00intensive Israeli electronic surveillance on Lebanese telephone networks, especially
01:05as clashes continue for over 11 months.
01:08The international community is still scrambling to cease hostilities, as they fear the ongoing
01:13exchange could spiral into a full-scale war and that could spill over across countries
01:18in the Middle East.