Hand-held radios utilized by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah exploded on Wednesday in various locations across southern Lebanon, including the suburbs of Beirut and the Bekaa Valley, escalating tensions with Israel just a day after similar detonations involving the group’s pagers.
According to Lebanon's health ministry, the blasts resulted in 14 fatalities and around 450 injuries on Wednesday, while the death toll from Tuesday's incidents rose to 12, including two children, with nearly 3,000 people injured. One of Wednesday’s explosions reportedly occurred near a funeral held by Hezbollah for those killed the previous day during a series of pager blasts that injured many of the group's members.
A Reuters journalist in the southern Beirut suburbs observed Hezbollah members hurriedly removing batteries from undamaged walkie-talkies and discarding them in metal barrels. The Lebanese Red Cross reported on X that it deployed 30 ambulance teams to respond to multiple explosions in various regions, including southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.
After being briefly disrupted by the pager incidents, Hezbollah announced on Wednesday that it had targeted Israeli artillery positions with rockets, marking its first offensive against Israel since the explosions, which raised concerns about a potential escalation in regional conflict.
The Israeli military noted that warning sirens were activated multiple times in northern Israel, but no damage or casualties were reported. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stated that the focus of the conflict was shifting northward, near the Lebanese border, as more troops and resources were being allocated to the area. "We are entering a new phase in the war, requiring our courage, determination, and perseverance," he said during remarks at an air force base.
Images of the damaged radios reviewed by Reuters indicated they bore an internal label identifying them as "ICOM" and "made in Japan." ICOM, a Japanese company specializing in radio communications, has announced that several models, including the IC-V82—similar to those shown in the images from Lebanon—were discontinued in 2014.
There was no immediate response from ICOM to requests for comment on the matter. According to a security source, Hezbollah acquired these hand-held radios five months ago, around the same time as the pagers. Reports from a senior Lebanese security source suggest that Israel's Mossad had implanted explosives in the pagers imported by Hezbollah months prior to Tuesday’s detonations.
