Death toll from latest Lebanon blasts rises to 14, more than 450 injured – health ministry
The death toll from the latest blast in Lebanon has risen from nine to 14 people, with more than 450 others wounded, the country’s health ministry said.
Key events
The White House’s national security adviser, John Kirby, said it is “too soon to know” if the explosions aimed at Hezbollah across recent days will have an impact on a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
Kirby told reporters:
Sadly, we aren’t any closer to that now than we were even a week ago, so it’s difficult to see any impact of these incidents, but I think it’s just too soon to know.
US ‘not involved in any way’ in Lebanon blasts, says White House
The White House’s national security adviser, John Kirby, said the US was not involved in the wave of explosions that took place in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“We were not involved in yesterday’s incidents or today’s in any way,” Kirby told reporters in a briefing this afternoon.
Asked if he was concerned that the blasts could lead to an escalation, Kirby said:
We want to see the war end, and everything we’ve been doing since the beginning has been designed to prevent the conflict from escalating.
The US still believes that “there is a diplomatic path forward,” he said.
UN secretary general António Guterres has issued a statement in response to the blasts across the Middle East, saying:
I’m deeply alarmed by reports that a large number of communication devices exploded across Lebanon & Syria, killing at least 11 people, including children, and injuring thousands.
All actors must exercise maximum restraint to avert any further escalation.
I’m deeply alarmed by reports that a large number of communication devices exploded across Lebanon & Syria, killing at least 11 people, including children, and injuring thousands.
All actors must exercise maximum restraint to avert any further escalation.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) September 18, 2024
Speaking to RT, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called the Lebanon blasts a “heinous act of terrorism”.
Zakharova went on to add:
All the signs are there of an international terrorist attack because it is obvious that in order to gather such a large amount of equipment, it had to be brought in, crossing several borders. Obviously, there is an international trail in this, and it should be investigated accordingly.
Now the reaction of the west should be indicative. If the west remains silent, and as always, does not insist on an investigation, does not talk about human rights, does not repeat its rhetoric of many years, which they have used in similar cases when terrorist acts were committed on their territory, then this will be proof of their direct engagement.”
US senator Bernie Sanders has introduced joint resolutions of disapproval that would block the sale of US weapons to Israel.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Sanders, who has been a vocal critic of Israel’s war on Gaza which has killed over 41,000 Palestinians in the last 11 months, said:
Sadly, and illegally, much of the carnage in Gaza has been carried out with US-provided military equipment. Providing more offensive weapons to continue this disastrous war would violate US and international law.
The sales would reward [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s extremist government, even as it continues to cause massive destruction in Gaza, undermine the prospects of a ceasefire deal that would secure the release of the hostages, and advance its effort to illegally annex the West Bank.
Netanyahu’s right-wing, extremist government is violating international & US law and has created a humanitarian disaster in Gaza.
Today, I announced that I will file Joint Resolutions of Disapproval to stop the sale of U.S. arms to Israel and end our complicity in this disaster. pic.twitter.com/mPZEVBlO44
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) September 18, 2024
Here are some images coming through the newswires from Lebanon where the latest walkie-talkie blasts – which Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed on Israel – have killed 14 people and injured at least 450 others:
The head of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, said Israel has drawn up plans for additional action against Hezbollah and is ready to strike.
Israel has “many more capabilities” that have not been used yet in the fighting against Hezbollah, Halevi said on Wednesday in quotes carried by the Times of Israel.
We have many capabilities that we have not yet activated … We have seen some of these things, it seems to me that we are well prepared and we are preparing these plans going forward.
“At each stage, the price for Hezbollah needs to be high,” he added.
Death toll from latest Lebanon blasts rises to 14, more than 450 injured – health ministry
The death toll from the latest blast in Lebanon has risen from nine to 14 people, with more than 450 others wounded, the country’s health ministry said.
Summary of the day so far
Explosions apparently targeting walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah have killed at least 14 people and wounded at least 450 in cities across Lebanon, a day after a wave of pager explosions killed a dozen people and injured thousands in an attack blamed on Israel.
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
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At least 14 people were killed and more than 450 injured as a result of the explosions on Wednesday, according to officials.
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A source in Hezbollah confirmed that walkie-talkies used by the group were targeted in the attack.
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Several solar power systems exploded in people’s homes across Lebanon, according to the National News Agency. At least one girl in the town of al-Zahrani, south Lebanon, was injured, it said.
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Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attacks in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed in a brief statement on Wednesday to return tens of thousands of residents evacuated from northern border areas to their homes.
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Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, declared the start of a “new phase” of the war with a focus on the northern front. Gallant, speaking to Israeli troops on Wednesday, did not mention the explosions of devices in Lebanon but he praised the work of Israel’s army and security agencies, noting that the “results are very impressive”.
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Wednesday’s explosions took place a day after more than 2,800 were injured and 12 killed by exploding pagers, including a 10-year-old girl. Here’s what we know about the attack on Tuesday.
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Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for Tuesday’s attack. Hezbollah on Tuesday promised a “fair punishment” for the explosion. Lebanon’s Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is expected to give a speech on Thursday. Reports suggest Israel managed to place explosives in thousands of pagers bought by Hezbollah.
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Hezbollah said it had attacked Israeli artillery positions with rockets on Wednesday in the first cross-border attack since the Tuesday pager blasts. An Israeli journalist said a barrage of 10 rockets was fired from Lebanon at western Galilee, causing no injuries.
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The UN secretary general, António Guterres, is “deeply alarmed” by reports that a large number of communication devices exploded across Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday and Wednesday. The UN security council will meet on Friday to discuss the wave of device explosions across Lebanon targeting Hezbollah. The UN’s high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, said those responsible for the explosions “must be held to account”.
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The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, described the pager detonations in Lebanon as “extremely worrying”, and said they had caused “heavy, indiscriminate collateral damages among civilians.”
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An Israeli airstrike on a school turned shelter in Gaza killed five people, Gaza’s civil defence agency said on Wednesday. It is the latest in a series of Israeli strikes on school buildings housing displaced Palestinians. The Israeli military said it targeted Hamas militants.
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The US secretary of state Antony Blinken said 15 out of 18 paragraphs of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas have been agreed, and insisted that progress on negotiations had been made during the last few weeks, despite there being no respite in Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip, or any sign of the impending release of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas.
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Saudi Arabia will not recognise Israel without a Palestinian state, the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, said on Wednesday as he condemned the “crimes of the Israeli occupation” against the Palestinian people.
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Egypt’s foreign minister, Badr Abdelatty, ruled out his country accepting any changes to the agreed border security arrangements with Gaza, including the operation of the Rafah crossing.
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The UN general assembly voted overwhelmingly to direct Israel to leave the occupied Palestinian territories within a year, a symbolic step exposing Israel’s continued international isolation.
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The US issued a new round of Iran sanctions on Wednesday targeting 12 individuals who it said were tied to Tehran’s “ongoing, violent repression of the Iranian people,” including its “brutal crackdown on peaceful protests.”
Explosions apparently targeting walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah have killed at least nine people and wounded at least 300 in cities across Lebanon, a day after exploding pagers killed 12 people and injured more than 2,800 in an attack blamed on Israel.
Here’s our video report:
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, released a brief video statement in which he vowed to return tens of thousands of residents evacuated from northern border areas to their homes.
In the short video, Netanyahu said:
I have said it before, we will return to the citizens of the north to their homes in security and that’s exactly what we are going to do.
He did not mention the blasts targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon over the past two days.
As we reported earlier, Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, on Wednesday declared the start of a “new phase” of the war with a focus on the northern front.
Israel has not claimed responsibility for either of the attacks in Lebanon on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Israel denounced the UN general assembly resolution as “cynical” and “distorted” after UN members voted overwhelmingly to direct Israel to leave the occupied Palestinian territories within a year.
“This is what cynical international politics looks like,” Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein said in a post on X.
He said the UN general assembly’s resolution “ignores reality, Israel’s security needs and terrorism against its citizens”, adding:
Israel rejects the distorted and disconnected from reality decision of the General Assembly and thanks the leading countries that did not join the march of folly that took place today in New York.
Patrick Wintour
Condemnations of Israel by the UN general assembly are frequent, including two resolutions passed by comparable majorities since the conflict began on 7 October, but this latest move is the first since 1982 to advocate sanctions against Israel.
It arguably has additional force since it claims to be seeking to enforce an ICJ ruling. The resolution states:
Israel’s security concerns cannot override the principle of the prohibition of the acquisition of territory by force.
The latest resolution urges member states to end the import of products originating in the Israeli settlements and to stop the provision of arms, munitions and related equipment to Israel “if it is reasonable to suspect that they may be used in the occupied Palestinian territory”.
Additionally, it requires the UN general secretary, António Guterres, to report within three months on what progress he had made in urging Israel to cooperate.
UN members back resolution directing Israel to leave occupied territories
Patrick Wintour
In a symbolic step exposing Israel’s continued international isolation, the UN general assembly has voted overwhelmingly to direct Israel to leave the occupied Palestinian territories within a year.
The non-binding vote follows a historic advisory ruling in July by the international court of justice (ICJ) urging Israel to cease “its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory as soon as possible and stop all settlement activity there immediately”.
Wednesday’s resolution was passed by 124 votes to 14 with 43 abstentions, prompting applause across the general assembly chamber in New York.
A preliminary investigation has found hundreds of pagers that exploded across Lebanon had been booby-trapped, according to a report.
A security source told AFP:
Data indicates the devices were pre-programmed to detonate and contained explosive materials planted next to the battery.
Israeli officials notified the US that it was planning to carry out an operation in Lebanon on Tuesday but did not give any details on what they were planning, according to a report.
That included a call between the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, and his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, on Tuesday morning, CNN reported.
Tuesday’s explosions, which killed 12 people and wounded nearly 3,000 others, came as a shock to senior US officials including Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, who was travelling from Washington to Cairo.
On Wednesday, Blinken told reporters in Egypt that the US “did not know about nor was it involved in these incidents”.
