Incident involving Hezbollah pagers could further escalate the situation in Lebanon

IIt seemed too extraordinary to be true.

At around 3:45 p.m. local time, hundreds of pagers spontaneously exploded in Lebanon and parts of Syria, killing at least eight people, including a child, and injuring 2,800 others.

Among the injured are fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, paramedics and even the Iranian envoy in Beirut.

Videos circulating online claiming to show the moment of the explosions are even more bizarre and raise further questions. Men in supermarkets, vegetable stalls and on motorcycles are seen suddenly thrown to the ground by the violent explosions.

A Hezbollah official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters that the pager detonation was the “biggest security breach” Hezbollah had experienced in its nearly year-long conflict with Israel.

Hezbollah publicly blamed Israel, declaring that it held Israel “fully responsible for this criminal aggression,” which was also directed against civilians, and threatened “just punishment” in return.

When asked whether Israel was behind it, the Israeli military told The Independent it had no comment.

The government, which had previously declared on the same day that the updated goal of its current war was the return of its population to the northern border with Lebanon, was also tight-lipped.

But whatever the cause of this extraordinary incident, it will only add fuel to the fire that is spreading rapidly in the region as the anniversary of the devastating Gaza war approaches.

Stephane Dujarric, a United Nations spokesman, was quick to say that developments in Lebanon were very worrying, particularly given the “extremely unstable” situation. There are big, very real fears that could well push the Middle East even further to the brink of a full-scale multinational war.

On October 7, Hamas fighters and their allies raided southern Israel, killing over 1,200 people and taking nearly 250 hostage, according to Israeli sources.

In retaliation, Israel heavily bombed the Gaza Strip, imposing a devastating siege that killed well over 40,000 people, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The impact of this conflict extends far beyond the borders of both countries. Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah engage in daily cross-border shelling, raising fears that it could escalate into a war on a scale the two countries have not seen in nearly 20 years.

The Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are also considered Iran's proxies, have fired several rockets towards Israel. The last one on Sunday set off air raid sirens in central Israel, but there were no casualties.

Israel and Iran have exchanged fire with each other. In April, Iran fired directly at Israel. Israel is prepared for a retaliatory strike by Iran to avenge the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in an explosion in Tehran in July.

Blame for the targeted killing was widely attributed to Israel, which has not commented on its possible involvement.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt have spent most of the year trying in vain to negotiate a ceasefire that would see Hamas release its hostages in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the release of Palestinians detained by Israel.

There is hope that any kind of agreement could calm the tides of calm in the simmering region.

But every time there was progress, the efforts in the negotiating room were overshadowed by events on the ground.

And if this attack is indeed Israel's responsibility, it could open a whole new chapter.

This is a significant psychological blow to Hezbollah, which must now protect itself not only from insidious attacks in its immediate vicinity, but also in its own pocket.