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Walkie talkies explode in latest attack

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Hezbollah rattled by blasts

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20 killed and over 450 injured, Lebanon health ministry

says

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Israel's Mossad has long history of sophisticated attacks

(Adds comment from ICOM ( ICOIF ) in paragraphs 12-15)

By Laila Bassam and Maya Gebeily

BEIRUT, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Hand-held radios used by

armed group Hezbollah detonated on Wednesday across Lebanon's

south in the country's deadliest day since cross-border

fighting erupted between the militants and Israel nearly a year

ago, stoking tensions after similar explosions of the group's

pagers the day before.

Lebanon's health ministry said 20 people were killed and

more than 450 injured on Wednesday in Beirut's suburbs and the

Bekaa Valley, while the death toll from Tuesday's explosions

rose to 12, including two children, with nearly 3,000 injured.

Israeli officials have not commented on the blasts, but

security sources said Israel's spy agency Mossad was

responsible. One Hezbollah official said the episode was the

biggest security breach in the group's history.

The operations, which appeared to throw Hezbollah into

disarray, played out alongside Israel's 11-month-old war in Gaza

and heightened fears of an escalation on its Lebanese border and

the risk of a full-blown regional war.

"We are opening a new phase in the war. It requires courage,

determination and perseverance from us," Israeli Defence

Minister Yoav Gallant said in remarks at an air force base.

Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi accused Israel of

pushing the Middle East to the brink of a regional war by

orchestrating a dangerous escalation on many fronts.

The U.S., which denied any involvement in the blasts, said

it was pursuing intensive diplomacy to avert an escalation of

the conflict. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of

anonymity, said Israel told Washington on Tuesday it was going

to do something in Lebanon. But Israel did not provide details

and the operation itself was a surprise to Washington, the

official said.

At least one of Wednesday's blasts in Lebanon took place

near a funeral organised by Iran-backed Hezbollah for those

killed the previous day when thousands of the group's pagers

exploded across the country and wounded many of its fighters.

A Reuters reporter in the southern suburbs of Beirut said he

saw Hezbollah members frantically taking batteries out of any

walkie-talkies that had not exploded, tossing the parts in metal

barrels. Hezbollah turned to pagers and other low-tech

communication devices in an attempt to evade Israeli

surveillance of mobile phones.

Lebanon's Red Cross said on X that it responded with 30

ambulance teams to multiple explosions in different areas,

including the south of Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.

Images of the exploded walkie-talkies showed labels bearing

the name of Japanese radio communications and telephone company

ICOM ( ICOIF ) and resembled the firm's model IC-V82 device.

Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed ICOM ( ICOIF ) said on Thursday it was

investigating news reports two-way radio devices bearing its

logo exploded in Lebanon and would release updated information

as it becomes available on its website.

The company, which says it manufactures all of its radios in

Japan, could not confirm whether it had shipped the device, in

part because that model had been discontinued 10 years ago.

The Osaka-based firm said its products for overseas markets

are sold exclusively through authorised distributors and it vets

exports in accordance with Japan's security trade control

regulations.

The company has previously warned about counterfeit versions

of its devices circulating in the market, especially

discontinued models.

The hand-held radios were purchased by Hezbollah five months

ago, around the same time as the pagers, a security source said.

In Tuesday's explosions, sources said Israeli spies remotely

detonated explosives they planted in a Hezbollah order of 5,000

pagers before they entered the country.

The United Nations Security Council will meet on Friday

about the pager blasts after a request by Arab states.

Tehran's ambassador in Lebanon was superficially injured in

Tuesday's blasts, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported

then. But the New York Times ( NYT ) on Wednesday said he lost one eye

and the other was severely injured when a pager he was carrying

exploded, citing two members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard.

Iran's envoy to the U.N. said in a letter on Wednesday that

it "reserves its rights under international law to take required

measures deemed necessary to respond" to the attack.

HEZBOLLAH LAUNCHES ROCKETS

Hezbollah, which has vowed to retaliate against Israel, said

on Wednesday it attacked Israeli artillery positions with

rockets, the first strike at its arch-foe since the blasts. The

Israeli military said there were no reports of any damage or

casualties.

"Hezbollah wants to avoid an all-out war," said Mohanad Hage

Ali, deputy director of research at the Carnegie Middle East

Center in Beirut. "But given the scale ... there will be

pressure for a stronger response."

The two sides have been fighting across the Lebanese border

since the Gaza conflict erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, fuelling fears

of a wider Middle East war that could drag in the United States

and Iran. The previous highest daily Lebanese death toll was 11

who died in Israeli shelling last month, according to official

counts.

Gallant said Israel, which has vowed to return evacuated

residents to their homes in the north, was transferring troops

and resources to the Lebanon border region. Israeli sources said

this included the army's 98th Division, which has commando and

paratrooper formations, moving from Gaza to the north.

"The 'centre of gravity' is moving north, meaning that we

are allocating forces, resources and energy for the northern

arena," Gallant said in remarks released by his office.

A full-blown war with Israel could devastate Lebanon, which

has lurched from one crisis to another, including a 2019

financial collapse and the 2020 Beirut port blast.

Rising tensions may also complicate so far unsuccessful

efforts by mediators Egypt, Qatar and the U.S. to negotiate a

Gaza ceasefire between Israel and militant group Hamas, a

Hezbollah ally also backed by Iran.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said

on Wednesday it was too soon to assess the impact of the blasts

on ceasefire talks.

Hezbollah, Iran's most powerful proxy in the Middle East,

said in a statement it would continue to support Hamas in Gaza

and Israel should await a response to the pager "massacre."

A Hamas delegation visited people wounded in the blasts in

Lebanese hospitals on Wednesday, Lebanese state news agency NNA

said.

The explosions followed a series of assassinations of

Hezbollah and Hamas commanders and leaders ascribed to Israel

since the start of the Gaza war.

(Additional reporting by Tom Perry in Beirut, Phil Stewart and

Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Ben Blanchard in Taipei and

Clauda Tanios in Dubai, Krisztina Than and Krisztina Fenyo in

Budapest and Simon Lewis in Cairo and John Revill in Zurich,

Emilie Madi and Timour Azhari in Beirut; James Pearson in London

and Tim Kelly and John Geddie in Tokyo; Writing by Michael

Georgy and Cynthia Osterman; Editing by Ros Russell, William

Maclean, Jon Boyle, Sharon Singleton, Deepa Babington and

Michael Perry)