Beirut, Lebanon - September 18, 2024

A Lebanese expert said he believes that Israel worked with other countries and foreign companies to conduct two widespread attacks in Lebanon that have killed 37 people so far.

Tuesday's pager explosions in Lebanon killed 12 people, with 2,323 others injured, Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad said at a news conference on Thursday, adding that 226 people injured on Tuesday are still hospitalized.

The death toll in explosions of hand-held radios across the country on Wednesday rose to 25 with 608 injured, Abiad said.

During an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Wednesday, Ali Omais, director of the Center for Strategic Research and Studies at Makassed University of Beirut, analyzed the causes of the explosion.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday in a televised speech that the deadly device explosions across Lebanon are "an act of war and a declaration of war by Israel."

Israel "violated all red lines," Nasrallah said, calling the incidents "massacres."

He stressed that Hezbollah will not stop its military operations until the conflict in the Gaza Strip ends.

Nasrallah also noted that Hezbollah has set up several internal investigation committees to conduct in-depth examinations into the explosions at the technical and security levels, in order to obtain results in a short period of time.

Shotlist:
Beirut, Lebanon - Sept 18, 2024:
FILE: Beirut, Lebanon - 2024
1. National flag of Lebanon;
Beirut, Lebanon - Sept 17, 2024
2. Ambulances moving through traffic;
Beirut, Lebanon - Sept 18, 2024
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ali Omais, director, Center for Strategic Research and Studies at Makassed University of Beirut:
"This is a very dangerous incident because Israel was able to penetrate Hezbollah. And Hezbollah also holds Israel responsible. This issue is considered very dangerous, because Israel was able to penetrate Hezbollah's security structure. Just as it was able to penetrate the devices, it was also able to penetrate Hezbollah’s security systems and knew that they would purchase a large quantity of pagers. Because booby-trapping these pagers requires technical support from multiple parties, I believe that the Israelis cooperated with other countries and companies. Such an act also requires large devices, which may have come from the manufacturers of these pagers in the first place. So I believe that there is cooperation from several parties, including Israel, to booby-trap these devices.";
4. Various of pedestrians, traffic outside The American University of Beirut Medical Center;
5. Various of armed personnel;
6. Pedestrians, traffic outside The American University of Beirut Medical Center;
7. People helping man in wheelchair board vehicle.

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