THE Iranian ambassador to Lebanon is said to have lost an eye in the Israeli deadly pager attack against Hezbollah.
The wave of explosions sparked chaos across the country after hundreds of pagers were triggered when the targets read a coded message.
TwitterThe moment a pager exploded in Lebanon[/caption]
AlamyThe Iranian ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani is said to have lost an eye in the blast[/caption]
AFPThe remains of an exploded pager in Beirut[/caption]
GettyPolice officers at Taiwanese company Gold Apollo office[/caption]
The attack saw devices detonating almost simultaneously, killing at least 12 people.
The elaborate plot which targeted mainly Hezbollah strongholds left 2,800 people wounded, including Hezbollah’s terrorists and the Iranian ambassador.
Mojtaba Amani has reportedly lost one eye and his other one is seriously wounded, when his pager exploded, the New York Times report citing two members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps.
The two Guard members said the envoy’s injuries were more serious than Iran initially reported and that he would be taken to Tehran for treatment.
State media reported Amani was in “good general condition” and his injuries were only superficial following Tuesday’s blast.
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Iranian media reported he suffered injuries “to the hand and the face” while the Iranian embassy in Beirut denied “rumours about the physical condition and vision problems” of the ambassador in an X post.
Hezbollah vowed revenge for the attack while Iran accused Israel of “mass murder” today.
Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said he “condemned the terrorist act of the Zionist regime… as an example of mass murder”.
Two sources claimed Mossad was behind the attack and managed to infiltrate the 5,000 gadgets that were ordered months ago.
They said the devices had been modified by Israel’s spy service who hid a small amount of explosives inside, “at the production level.”
The operation with a trail running from Taiwan to Hungary was described as the group’s “biggest security breach” since Gaza, by a Hezbollah official.
The beepers were made by Taiwan-based Gold Apollo but the firm has dismissed claims of a link to the explosions.
The company said the AR-924 pagers were manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT based in Budapest which is licensed to use the firm’s brand.
Speaking outside the company’s offices in New Taipei, Gold Apollo founder Hsu Ching-Kuang said the pagers used in the explosion were made by a company in Europe.
“The product was not ours. It was only that it had our brand on it.”
A statement from the company reads: “According to the cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC.”
The pagers were ordered after the group’s leader ordered members to stop using phones in February over fears Israeli spies could track them.
A Hezbollah source said the pagers were “brand new” and had not been used by fighters before.
An ex-Israeli official told Axios Israel was planning to use the booby-trapped pagers in the event of an- all-out war.
But Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, top ministers and the IDF made the call to detonate the pagers rather than risking becoming detected.
A US official said the Israeli government became increasingly worried after reports that two Hezbollah operatives raised suspicions about the pagers in the past days.
“It was a use it or lose it moment,” they told Axios.
The attack targeting mainly Hezbollah strongholds south Beirut suburbs and the Beqaa region of eastern Lebanon dealt a heavy blow to Hezbollah.
Professor in International Relations at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) Dr Imad El-Anis said: “This is a shocking move which demonstrates that Israel’s ability to infiltrate Hezbollah runs deeply.
“It will undermine Hezbollah’s ability to communicate and they will not trust members of their own inner circles.
“It will make Hezbollah think about their operation. Many of their members will be in complete disbelief that this has been possible.
“Trying to assassinate people is an old fashioned aspect of espionage, and something we’ve not seen in the region for a while.
“We are more used to seeing cyber hacks these days. It largely doesn’t mean anything for the broader balance on the battlefield necessarily, and won’t weaken Hezbollah in that sense as such.
“But this is a heavy signal and an incredibly bold move. It shows that they were trying to take out a lot of the top leadership and that many of the state actors here had a disregard for the collateral damage to innocent people.”
Head of Taiwanese company Gold Apollo Hsu Ching-kuang said the pagers were manufactured in Budapest
AFPSoldiers stand guard near a hospital in Beirut after the pager attack[/caption]