Beirut, 19 September 2024 (dpa/MIA) - At least 20 people were killed and 450 others injured in the second wave of explosions related to electronic devices in Lebanon in two days, the Health Ministry in Beirut said on Wednesday in an update to earlier reports.

Lebanese security sources said many members of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia had been affected as in the first wave.

Meanwhile Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announced a "new phase" of the war.

The focus is on the "northern front," several Israeli media outlets reported on Wednesday, citing Gallant's office.

The Israeli army and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia have been engaged in skirmishes on Israel's northern front for months.

Forces and resources are to be relocated to the north, the Israeli media quoted Gallant as saying.

The Times of Israel newspaper online quoted Gallant as saying that Israel’s war goals in the north are "clear and simple: to return the residents of the towns in the north to their homes safely."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also promised this again in a video address.

According to Israeli Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi, the Israeli army is prepared to do whatever is necessary to create the conditions for this. "We still have many capabilities that we have not yet used," the general asserted.

More blasts across Beirut suburbs and south Lebanon

A new wave of blasts was heard across Beirut's southern suburbs and southern Lebanon earlier on Wednesday, witnesses in the area told dpa.

A Hezbollah source said wireless devices like walkie-talkies had exploded.

A Lebanese security source confirmed that it was walkie-talkies that had exploded, some of them in cars and some of which were being carried by Hezbollah members on motorbikes.

The sound of blasts coincided with Hezbollah mourning some of the people who died in Tuesday's detonations of pagers, which killed 12 and wounded some 2,800.

Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the detonations on Tuesday and promised retaliation. Several of its fighters, as well as high-ranking representatives and members of the Radwan Force, an elite unit within the group, are said to be among the victims.

The Israeli army has not yet commented on the accusations but has since raised its alert level in anticipation of possible military action from Hezbollah.

UN Secretary General António Guterres said he believes the detonations could be a sign of an imminent massive escalation in the region.

"Obviously the logic of making all these devices explode is to do it as a pre-emptive strike before a major military operation," he said in New York during a press conference on Wednesday, referring to Tuesday's events. News of Wednesday's blasts were coming in as he spoke.

He said everything needed to be done to avoid such "a dramatic escalation in Lebanon."

The UN Security Council plans to convene an emergency meeting in response to the explosions at 1900 GMT on Friday, according to diplomatic sources.

Among Tuesday's dead are an 8-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy, caretaker Health Minister Firas Abiad said at a news briefing at the Health Ministry in Beirut. Between 2,750 and 2,800 people were wounded in the attack, with 300 of those in critical condition, he said.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is scheduled to make a statement at 5 pm (1400 GMT) on Thursday to address "the latest developments," the Iranian-backed militia said.

Schools and universities across Lebanon are set to remain closed for another day following Wednesday's events, with the civil defence department saying its teams have been deployed to the south and the east of the country as well as Beirut's southern suburbs to put out fires in car shops and houses.

Lebanon still reeling from Tuesday's blasts

Iran has dispatched medical relief teams to Lebanon following Tuesday's explosions, including the head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, Iran's state news agency IRNA said.

Videos from across Lebanon showed the blasts occurring in public places such as supermarkets. In some cases, people were seen lying on the ground after pagers in their hands or pockets exploded.

There were also scenes of crowded hospitals filled with bleeding patients.

Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was injured in the explosion of a pager. The device belonged to a bodyguard, according to the Iranian news agency Tasnim.

Hezbollah is the most important non-state ally of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Israel on heightened alert

The Israeli army has increased its level of alert in anticipation of a response from Hezbollah, Israeli Army Radio said.

Army Radio said that air defences and military intelligence in Israel have been put on heightened alert. An elite unit is also set to be relocated from the Gaza Strip to the border with Lebanon.

But the Home Front Command, responsible for civilian emergency preparedness, has not yet changed its instructions to the public.

UN, EU condemn pager blasts

The UN's Human Rights Office in Geneva said the fallout from Tuesday's pager blasts in Lebanon was "shocking" and the "impact on civilians unacceptable."

"At this extremely volatile time, we appeal to all states with influence in the region and beyond to take immediate measures to avert further widening of the current conflicts," it said in a statement on Wednesay

The European Union's foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, also condemned the blasts.

"Even if the attacks seem to have been targeted, they had heavy, indiscriminate collateral damages among civilians, including children among the victims," Borrell said.

How did the pagers explode and where did they come from?

Much is still unclear about Tuesday's, and now Wednesday's, events as they continue to unfold.

The affected pagers bore the logo of Taiwanese company Gold Apollo, but the business has denied any connection to the incident. According to Gold Apollo boss Hsu Ching-Kuang, the devices were manufactured in Hungary.

Experts say the pagers were an important means of communication for Hezbollah. The militia is said to have used them instead of mobile phones, which can be tracked and used for targeted attacks.

How the hand-held devices, which are simple radio receivers that are not logged into a network, could be manipulated remains unclear.

Media reports speculated that the pagers were probably intercepted by Israeli agents before they were delivered to Lebanon and booby-trapped with explosives.

Since the beginning of the Gaza war almost a year ago, confrontations have occurred almost daily in the border area between Hezbollah and the Israeli military, with deaths recorded on both sides as a result of the shelling, mostly members of Hezbollah.

According to Israel, three Hezbollah fighters were killed on Tuesday in an attack on a location in southern Lebanon. The pro-Iranian Shiite militia says it is acting out of solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Photo: MIA archive