Hundreds of bombs went off simultaneously across Lebanon in what Lebanese authorities described as a coordinated attack that killed nine people and injured more than 2,800.

Among the victims are two fighters of the pro-Iranian movement and a 16-year-old girl. Two security sources said one of the dead fighters was the son of a Hezbollah lawmaker.

The Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, is among the wounded, the Iranian Mehr news agency announced.

At the same time, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced that fourteen members of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah organization were injured in Syria. A source close to Hezbollah confirmed to AFP that members of the pro-Iranian movement, which has been deployed in Syria in support of President Assad’s government, were wounded, without specifying the number.

However, unofficial reports from Iranian media said seven more were killed in Syria in the Seyedah Zeinab neighborhood of Damascus, a Shiite stronghold.

The sirens went off a day after Israeli leaders warned they were considering stepping up their military campaign against Hezbollah. Israel has not commented on whether it was behind the attacks, but tensions between the two countries have already risen.

Lebanon at the UN

The Lebanese government condemned the attack, blaming Israel for “criminal Israeli aggression”.

In particular, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said at a cabinet meeting that the attack represented “criminal Israeli aggression, which constitutes a serious violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty and a crime based on all circumstances,” as reported by state news agency NNA.

Meanwhile, Ziad Makari, the minister of information, told a press conference in Beirut that the Lebanese government had contacted the United Nations and the countries concerned “to hold them accountable for this ongoing crime.”

However, both the Israeli government and the military have not commented.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the developments in Lebanon were “extremely worrying” given the volatile situation in the region. “We regret the civilian casualties we have seen,” Dujarric said, adding that the UN was closely monitoring the events.

“We cannot stress enough the dangers of escalation in Lebanon and the region.”

For its part, Hezbollah blamed Israel and said it would “receive just punishment” after “this criminal attack.”

“We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal attack that led to the martyrdom of many people, affected civilians and injured a large number,” the Lebanese militant group said in a statement.

A senior source in the group told Reuters that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was not injured in the blasts.

Fears of retaliation from Hezbollah

After eleven months of clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, with the situation often brought to an extreme, threatening to plunge the wider Middle East into chaos, fears are being raised again about what Hezbollah’s response will be.

Analysts estimate that Hezbollah will “have to respond”. Seth Jones, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ International Security Program, told CNN that “when I was in Israel recently and visited the border areas, the situation in the North was volatile.”

“Now that we’re seeing Israel start to wrap up the war in Gaza, they’re starting to turn north,” he said. “Israel is really trying to change the situation on the ground and create some sense of security on its northern border.”

Although Hezbollah’s response to the Israeli killing of senior Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukr in a Beirut suburb in July was “relatively muted,” Jones said Hezbollah will now have no choice but to strike back.

Maha Yahya, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, echoes the same assessment, noting that today’s incident leaves Hezbollah with few good options in its conflict with Israel.

“Hezbollah has been defeated many times in the last year. They lost more than 450 members of the organization and suffered significant damage to their infrastructure – and now this,” Yahya told CNN.

“Although it has not lost its deterrent capacity, it is bleeding,” he added, stressing that how Hezbollah responds to the blasts will depend on Israel’s next move.

“Is this also a first step in a wider escalation that Israel is planning? Because we’ve also heard from the Israeli government that it would like to expand the conflict in Lebanon in a more intense way than we’ve seen so far,” he said, referring to a series of belligerent statements by Israeli officials considering a wider confrontation with Hezbollah. in Lebanon.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) previously estimated that Hezbollah has about 150,000 rockets and missiles, including thousands of precision munitions.

The Chronicle of the “Cyber ​​Attack”

Initially, the wave of explosions left many people in Beirut in a state of confusion and shock. Witnesses reported seeing smoke coming out of people’s pockets, immediately followed by small explosions that looked like fireworks or gunshots.

Amateur footage broadcast on Lebanese television showed chaotic scenes in hospitals as injured burn patients sought help.

The detonated buzzers were the latest model brought in by Hezbollah in recent months, three security sources said.

A Reuters reporter saw ambulances rushing to the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, amid widespread panic. A security source said devices were also exploding in southern Lebanon.

At Mount Lebanon Hospital, a Reuters reporter saw motorbikes rushing to the emergency room where people with blood on their hands were screaming in pain.

The head of the Nabatighe public hospital in the southern part of the country, Hassan Wazni, told Reuters that about 40 wounded people were receiving medical care at his hospital. Injuries include wounds to the face, eyes and limbs.

The wave of explosions lasted about an hour after the initial explosions that occurred around 3:45 local time (and Greek time). It is currently unclear how the devices were detonated.

Forces of the Lebanese internal security services reported that a number of wireless communication devices were detonated in various areas of Lebanon, particularly in the southern suburbs of Beirut, causing injuries.

Groups of people gathered at the entrance of buildings to see if people they knew were injured, the Reuters reporter said.

Regional networks broadcast closed-circuit television footage showing what appeared to be a small device that had been placed next to the cash register of a grocery store where a man was paying exploded.

In another shot, an explosion appears to hit someone standing at a fruit stall in a market.

Lebanon’s crisis operations center, which is under the health ministry, has asked all health workers to go to the hospitals where they work to help them cope with the massive number of injured arriving in emergency rooms. He said health workers should not use buzzers.

The Lebanese Red Cross said more than 50 ambulances and 300 emergency personnel had been dispatched to help evacuate the victims.

Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel immediately after the October 7 attacks by Hamas gunmen in Israel. Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged fire steadily since then while avoiding a major escalation as the war rages in Gaza to the south.

Thousands of people have been displaced from towns and villages on both sides of the border due to hostilities.