Two children among 12 dead from pager explosions, Lebanon’s health minister says – Middle East crisis live

1.13pm BST

Hungarian entity that Taiwanese pager company said it authorised to produce and sell pagers denies making them

Lili Bayer in Brussels and Michael Safi report for the Guardian:

The CEO of a Hungarian entity which a Taiwanese company said it had authorised to produce and sell pagers has denied making the devices, saying she was just an “intermediate.”

Gold Apollo , a Taiwan-based company, said in a statement today that it had a partnership with the Budapest-based BAC Consulting KFT , and had authorised 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.”

“Regarding the AR-924 pager model mentioned in the recent media reports, we clarify that this model is produced and sold by BAC. Our company only provides the brand trademark authorization and is not involved in the design or manufacturing of this product,” it added.

BAC Consulting was registered in Hungary in 2022 and provided a Budapest address on its website – the same address used by multiple companies.

On its website, which was live early Wednesday but later became unavailable, BAC Consulting provided long yet vague descriptions of its work.

“With over a decade of consulting experience, we are on an exciting and rewarding journey with our network of passionate experts with a hunger for innovation and discovery for the Environment, Innovation & Development, and International Affairs,” according to the company’s LinkedIn page.

Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono presents herself on LinkedIn as the CEO of the company. Her LinkedIn page describes her as a native speaker of both Hungarian and Italian.

Bársony-Arcidiacono and BAC Consulting did not respond to questions from the Guardian. Reached by phone, Bársony-Arcidiacono asked how the paper got the number and then hung up.

However, she confirmed to NBC that her company worked with Gold Apollo.

Asked about the pagers and the explosions, Bársony-Arcidiacono said: “I don’t make the pagers. I am just the intermediate. I think you got it wrong.”

Asked about the Hungarian company, EU foreign affairs spokesperson Peter Stano said at a press conference on Wednesday: “let’s not jump to conclusions at this stage.”

“The reasons and how it was done, how it was organised, needs to be investigated,” he said.

Asked about the CEO’s claim on LinkedIn that she also works for the European Commission, a spokesperson said “she is not a staff member, never been.”

1.05pm BST

Egypt will not accept any changes to border security arrangements with Gaza

Egypt’s foreign minister Badr Abdelatty has ruled out his country accepting any changes to the agreed border security arrangements with Gaza, including the operation of the Rafah crossing.

Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu appears in recent weeks to have made continued Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor , a ribbon of land about nine miles (14km) in length and 100 metres wide along Gaza’s border with Egypt which includes the Rafah crossing, a condition of any ceasefire agreement. It was seized by Israel in May this year as its Gaza ground offensive pushed into Rafah.

12.57pm BST

Blinken: 15 out of 18 paragraphs of Gaza ceasefire proposal are agreed

US secretary of state Antony Blinken has stated that 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.

Speaking in Cairo, where he described Egypt as a critical partner in the ceasefire negotiations, Blinken said closing the gap on the last three paragraphs was a matter of “political will”.

12.54pm BST

Blinken: US is still gathering the facts about Lebanon pager explosions

Secretary of state Antony Blinken has said that the US did not know about the pager explosions in Lebanon in advance, and said his country was still gathering the facts about the blasts.

Speaking in a joint appearance in Cairo with Egypt’s foreign minister Badr Abdelatty, Blinken cautioned everyone in the region to avoid taking steps that could escalate the conflict.

Yesterday nearly 3,000 people were injured and 12 killed, including two children, by the detonation of pagers inside Lebanon. The attack, which appears to have been chiefly aimed at Hezbollah operatives, has been widely attributed to Israel. Israel has not claimed responsibility, and Benjamin Netanyahu’s government seldom comments on Israeli operations carried out outside its borders.

12.40pm BST

Israeli media is reporting that Israel is deploying its 98th Division to the north of the country nearer to Lebanon.

It had previously been deployed to the Gaza Strip, fighting in Khan Younis until late August. Haaretz reports that the deployment is intended “to prevent a wide-scale attack” by Hezbollah in the north. The Lebanese-based group has threatened retaliation for the pager explosions in Lebanon yesterday which Hezbollah has attributed to Israel. The division is believed to have between 10,000 and 20,000 troops.

In another development, the Times of Israel reports that a planned memorial ceremony this evening for IDF soldiers which was due to have speeches by defense minister Yoav Gallant and chief of the IDF northern command Maj Gen Ori Gordin, has been postponed “in accordance with an assessment of the situation.”

12.35pm BST

A little more detail on the updated casualty count from the pager detonations in Lebanon , which officials say has now killed 12 people, including two children. Lebanon’s health ministry said 2750 to 2800 people were wounded, of which 300 people are said to be in a critical condition. This is higher than the earlier reported figure of 200.

12.23pm BST

Lebanese minister Nasser Yassin, who heads up the country’s disaster response committee, has said that yesterday’s pager explosions were “another severe test of our preparedness”, and praised the way that emergency services coped with the sudden influx of casualties.

Lebanon’s state news agency quoted Yassin saying that at an emegency meeting on Wednesday morning the committee “assessed the situation in light of the major Israeli aggression that targeted Lebanese civilians.”

Yassin added “We extend our condolences to the families of the martyrs and wish the wounded a speedy recovery.”

He said:

Yesterday, the health sector, medical teams, ambulance services, the civil defence, the Red Cross, and other emergency groups did a tremendous job. They demonstrated the importance of our country’s emergency preparedness. In a matter of minutes, nearly 3,000 injuries were treated in hospitals and ambulances. This was a remarkable achievement.

However, there were challenges, especially in transporting patients between hospitals, triaging the injured, and relocating them to other areas. There was also a shortage of ophthalmologists and eye surgeons. What happened yesterday was a real war, similar to what we experienced during the Beirut Port explosion . Yesterday’s attack was another severe test of our preparedness.

Yassin also said the committee discussed “potential scenarios in case the aggression expands, something we’ve been preparing for over recent months with regular updates to our contingency plans”. He said the country had food supplies for three months, and that 100 school locations had been identified as potential shelters.

12.07pm BST

In the UK the recently elected chair of parliament’s foreign affairs select committee has suggested that Israel’s allies need to be asking “What on earth are you doing?” after the pager detonation attack in Lebanon widely attributed to Israel.

PA Media in the UK quotes Emily Thornberry , a Labour MP, saying:

We are really concerned about what is happening now in Lebanon. I think the big question is: why? Why is this happening now? And what will the result of that be?

It seems to be yet another escalation of the conflict which is happening in the Middle East, which will affect all of us. And it is very worrying indeed, of course it is, and what the response will be? And is this the first step, and what will Israel do next? Is it part of a larger plan?

It is very worrying and I would certainly be expecting Israel’s friends to be speaking very seriously to them, and saying: ‘What on earth are you doing? Why is this happening now?’

The UK’s Foreign Office has said “We continue to monitor the situation in Lebanon closely and the UK is working with diplomatic and humanitarian partners in the region. The civilian casualties following these explosions are deeply distressing. We urge calm heads and de-escalation at this critical time.”

The UK recommended its nationals leave Lebanon in August due to rising tensions in the region.

11.38am BST

Israel is pushing the whole Middle East to the brink of regional conflict by maintaining a dangerous escalation on several fronts, Reuters reports Jordan’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

In remarks after an Islamic and Arab ministerial contact group meeting in Amman to lobby for a Gaza ceasefire, Ayman Safadi said peace would not prevail without a two-state solution. Safadi has kept the foreign ministry portfolio in a new Jordanian cabinet named today.

11.37am BST

Lebanon's health minister: two children among 12 dead from pager explosions

The death toll from exploding pagers in Lebanon has risen to 12, and includes two children, Lebanese health minister Firass Abiad said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

About 3,000 people, including civilians, are reported to have been injured by the wave of explosions that struck Lebanon yesterday. While there has been no official claim of responsibility, the attack, which appears to have been chiefly aimed at Hezbollah operatives, has been widely attributed to Israel.

Lebanon’s information minister Ziad Makary has said the country is preparing to put a complaint to the UN security council over the incident, which he called “a blatant attack on Lebanese sovereignty, that targeted civilians, not only Hezbollah members.”

Lebanon has received medical aid today from Iran, Iraq and Jordan, and Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said his country rejects any attempts at escalation in the region, offering support to Lebanon. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan conveyed his sadness over the deadly pager blasts to Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati in a phone call. The Anadolu news agency reported that Erdoğan told Mikati that Israel’s attempts to spread conflicts in Gaza to the wider region were dangerous and that efforts to stop Israel would continue.

Russia ’s foreign ministry has said the attack was “deliberately” designed to “provoke a major war in the Middle East”, and spokesperson Maria Zakharova described it as “yet another act of hybrid warfare against Lebanon which has harmed thousands of innocent people”, and demanded an investigation.

Iran ’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani described it as “terrorist operation … [that] contravenes all moral and human principles, international law, especially international humanitarian law, and warrants international criminal prosecution, trial, and punishment.”

10.53am BST

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan conveyed his sadness over the deadly pager blasts in Lebanon to Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati in a phone call on Wednesday, Reuters reports Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu news agency said.

Erdoğan also told Mikati in the call that Israel’s attempts to spread conflicts in Gaza to the wider region were dangerous and that efforts to stop Israel would continue, Anadolu added.

10.37am BST

Lebanon preparing complaint to UN security council over pager detonations

Lebanon’s minister of information has said the country is preparing to take a complaint to the UN security council over the mass detonation of pagers yesterday which killed at least nine people and injured nearly 3,000 others.

Although there has been no official statement of responsibility, the attack has been widely attributed to Israel.

Lebanon’s state national news agency reports that Ziad Makary described the explosions as “a blatant attack on the Lebanese sovereignty, that targeted civilians, not only Hezbollah members.”

Makary said:

What we fear is not Hezbollah, but Israel’s criminality, whether in Gaza or Lebanon. Lebanon is preparing a complaint to submit to the UN security council, and the ambassadors of certain states concerned with this never-ending conflict between Lebanon and the Israeli enemy will be summoned. The enemy does not care about anybody, not even about the constant and public US pressures. US diplomacy must intensify its pressures on Israel before it does on Hezbollah and Lebanon.

10.32am BST

In addition to an earlier statement by Russia’s foreign ministry that the detonation of pagers in Lebanon had been deliberately designed to “provoke a major war in the Middle East”, the Kremlin has additionally said that the incident could become a trigger for a wider regional conflict.

Speaking in Moscow, Reuters reports Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the media “The causes and circumstances of the incident must be established and those behind it must be identified.”

According to a report in Tass, Peskov added “Of course, this should become a subject of study by specialists in order to take measures to eliminate similar risks here and in other places.”

10.27am BST

In its latest operational update on its official Telegram channel, Israel ’s military has said that in the last few hours it has intercepted a suspicious aerial target that crossed into Israel from the direction of Lebanon , and that Israeli fighter jets intercepted a UAV “that was approaching from Iraq ”.

The claims have not been independently verified.

10.09am BST

Russia: pager detonations in Lebanon deliberately designed to 'provoke a major war' in Middle East

Russia’s foreign ministry has said the attack on Lebanese group Hezbollah and others using exploding pagers was designed to “provoke a major war in the Middle East”. The detonation of the devices has been widely attributed to Israel.

Maria Zakharova , spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry, said in a statement:

We regard what happened as yet another act of hybrid warfare against Lebanon, which has harmed thousands of innocent people. It appears that the organisers of this high-tech attack deliberately sought to foment a large-scale armed confrontation in order to provoke a major war in the Middle East.

Earlier Zakharova said that the incident should be investigated, and said that the international community should be paying close attention to the event.

At least nine people have been killed and nearly 3,000 wounded by the detonation of the pagers. Among the wounded was Iran’s envoy to Beirut.

10.03am BST

Reuters reports that a statement from the Egyptian presidency said president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told visiting US secretary of state Antony Blinken that Egypt rejects any attempts at escalation in the region and that Egypt supports Lebanon after the pager blasts incident.

10.00am BST

The funeral of Fatima Abdallah , the 10-year-old girl killed during the wave of pager detonations that struck Lebanon yesterday afternoon, has been taking place in the village of Saraain in the Bekaa valley in Lebanon.

The detonations have been widely attributed to Israel, although there has been no official confirmation from Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which rarely comments on Israeli operations outside its borders. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 people were wounded in the blasts. About 200 of the wounded are reported to be in critical condition.

9.50am BST

US secretary of state Antony Blinken and his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty have met in Cairo. Blinken earlier met with Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi .

Blinken will head from Cairo to Paris on Thursday for a meeting with the foreign ministers of France, Italy and Britain to discuss the Middle East and Ukraine and other issues, Reuters reports a state department official said. Blinken will also meet French President Emmanuel Macron, the official said.

Blinken will not visit Israel on this trip to the Middle East, his tenth to the region since 7 October, and the first time he has not stopped in Tel Aviv as part of his intinerary.

9.44am BST

Russia ’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova , speaking in St Petersburg, has told the Russian media that “what happened [in Lebanon] yesterday requires an investigation and international attention to this issue.”

9.24am BST

The IDF has reported on its official Telegram channel that warning sirens are sounding in northern Israel .

9.23am BST

Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that medical crews have recovered ten bodies from areas north of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.

8.49am BST

In a statement on its official Telegram channel, Israel’s military has claimed that on Tuesday its air force struck “Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure sites in five different areas in southern Lebanon ,” and that additionally IDF artillery “struck in several areas in southern Lebanon.”

In the statement the IDF said it “will continue to operate against the threat of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation in order to defend the state of Israel.”

Thousands of people in Israel and Lebanon have been displaced from their homes after months of Hezbollah and Israel exchanging fire over the UN-drawn blue line that separates the countries.

The IDF’s claims have not been independently verified.

8.41am BST

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson has condemned the pager detonations in Lebanon as a “terrorist operation”, which he described as “a form of mass killing” and a contravention of “international humanitarian law”.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency quotes Nasser Kanaani saying:

[Tuesday’s] terrorist operation in Lebanon was carried out as a continuation of the Zionist regime’s combined operations and their mercenary agents. It contravenes all moral and human principles, international law, especially international humanitarian law, and warrants international criminal prosecution, trial, and punishment.

This combined terrorist act, which is, in fact, a form of mass killing, once again clearly proves that the Zionist regime, in addition to committing war crimes and genocide against the Palestinian people, has placed regional and international peace and security in serious jeopardy. Accordingly, confronting the regime’s terrorist actions and the threats arising from it is an evident necessity, and the international community must act promptly to combat the impunity of the Zionist criminal officials.

Iran’s government has promised support for Lebanon, and Al Jazeera reports that Iran’s Red Crescent has sent a medical delegation to Beirut to assist with the wounded. A shipment of medical aid from Iraq has also landed at Beirut International Airport. At least 200 of the nearly 3,000 people wounded in the attack are reported to be in critical condition.

8.31am BST

Lebanon ’s culture minister Judge Mohammad Wissam Al-Mortad has this morning issued a statement on social media, saying “In our struggle with the Israeli enemy, there are two truths: that its evil is limitless, and that our victory is undoubtedly coming. What [Israel] did yesterday provides evidence after evidence of its hostility to humanity, and of the resistance’s ability to stand firm on the road to victory. Israel’s days are numbered. May God have mercy on the martyrs, heal the wounded, and comfort the hearts.”

8.14am BST

Local Palestinian media is reporting that a 17-year-old child has been killed by Israeli security forces near Ni’lin , west of Ramallah , in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The claims have not been independently verified.

7.39am BST

Overnight Israel’s military announced the deaths of four soldiers.

It takes the total number that Israel says have been killed in action since the start of the ground offensive in Gaza to 346.

The claims have not been independently verified, and it has not been possible for journalists to verify casualty figures being issued during the conflict.

7.25am BST

Lebanon’s Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah will give a speech on Thursday, Reuters reports the group said in a statement on Wednesday.

It follows pager detonations across Lebanon on Tuesday that killed nine people and injured about 3,000 others in what is widely regarded as an attack by Israel.

7.10am BST

Major airlines Lufthansa and Air France have announced suspensions of flights to Tel Aviv, Tehran and Beirut until Thursday as tensions in the region soared after pager explosions in Lebanon .

German group Lufthansa said it was suspending all flights to Tel Aviv and Iran’s capital Tehran while French airline Air France suspended flights to the Israeli city and the Lebanese capital Beirut.

“Due to the recent change in the security situation, the Lufthansa Group airlines have decided to suspend all connections to and from Tel Aviv (TLV) and Tehran (IKA) with immediate effect,” Lufthansa said in a statement.

“This applies up to and including 19 September,” it said.

“Due to the security situation at the destinations, Air France is suspending its connections from Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Beirut (Lebanon) and … Tel Aviv (Israel) until 19 September inclusive,” the French company said in statement sent to AFP.

Air France said it would “evaluate daily the situation” in the Middle East and insisted that “the safety of our customers and crews is the absolute priority”.

7.04am BST

Antony Blinken arrives in Egypt

US secretary of state Antony Blinken reportedly landed in Cairo early Wednesday, as part of a planned trip to the region to attempt to secure an elusive ceasefire in Gaza.

On his 10th trip to the Middle East since the start of the war in Gaza nearly a year ago, Blinken will address negotiation efforts with Egyptian officials, according to the US state department. Those efforts were further complicated on Wednesday by the wave of pager blasts in Lebanon.

Blinken is expected to meet with Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and hold a press conference with foreign minister Badr Abdelatty, but will not be visiting Israel during this round of diplomacy.

US officials say privately that they do not expect any breakthroughs at Wednesday’s talks in Cairo, but Blinken’s visit will aim to keep up the pressure campaign for a deal between Israel and Hamas.

“He’ll be meeting with Egyptian officials about a number of things, but squarely on the agenda is how we get a proposal that we think would secure agreement from both parties,” said US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

6.51am BST

After the wave of explosions across Lebanon, the influx of so many casualties has reportedly overwhelmed hospitals in Hezbollah strongholds.

At one hospital in Beirut’s southern suburbs, an AFP correspondent saw people being treated in a car park on thin mattresses, with medical gloves on the ground and ambulance stretchers covered in blood.

“In all my life I’ve never seen someone walking on the street … and then explode,” said Musa, a resident of the southern suburbs, requesting to be identified only by his first name.

The 10-year-old daughter of a Hezbollah member was killed in east Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley when his pager exploded, the family and a source close to the group said.

A son of Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Ammar was also among the dead, a source close to the group told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Tehran’s ambassador in Beirut was wounded but his injuries were not serious, Iranian state media reported.

In total, nine deaths have been reported with almost 3,000 injured.

6.40am BST

Hezbollah is known for using pagers to communicate because, unlike mobile phones, they can evade location-tracking and monitoring from Israeli intelligence.

Yossi Melman, a co-author of Spies Against Armageddon, said “a lot of people in Hezbollah carried these pagers, not just top echelon commanders”.

However, a security breach of this scale is seen by experts as hugely embarrassing and damaging to morale in the militant groups morale. Those wounded in the attack include Iran’s ambassador to Beirut, Mojtaba Amani, according to reports.

“This would easily be the biggest counterintelligence failure that Hezbollah has had in decades,” said Jonathan Panikoff, the US government’s former deputy national intelligence officer on the Middle East.

6.29am BST

Pager manufacturer says devices used by Hezbollah were 'made in Europe'

The Taiwanese manufacturer linked to pagers that exploded as part of a deadly attack against Hezbollah has said the devices were made by a company in Europe, as the militant group blamed Israel and vowed revenge attacks.

Images of the pagers emerged in the aftermath with stickers on the back appearing consistent with pagers made by Taiwanese company Gold Apollo, according to analysis by Reuters.

On Wednesday, the company’s founder Hsu Ching-Kuang, denied it had made the pagers, saying they were manufactured by a company in Europe that had the right to use its brand. “The product was not ours. It was only that it had our brand on it,’ he said. “We are a responsible company. This is very embarrassing,” he said.

Related: Pagers in deadly attack on Hezbollah ‘made in Europe’, as Middle East braces for reprisals

6.21am BST

Hezbollah will continue operations in 'support of Gaza'

Lebanon’s Hezbollah said early on Wednesday that it “will continue, as in all the past days, its blessed operations to support Gaza”, after a deadly wave of exploding pagers killed nine and injured thousands.

“This path is ongoing and separate from the difficult reckoning that the criminal enemy must await for its massacre on Tuesday,” the group said in a statement issued on Telegram.

Hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon on Tuesday, with the group pinning the blame for the blasts on Israel.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the wave of explosions, which came just hours after Israel announced it was broadening the aims of the war sparked by Hamas’s 7 October attacks to include its fight against Hezbollah along the country’s border with Lebanon.

6.12am BST

Welcome and summary

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.

Hezbollah has said it “will continue” its operations to “support Gaza”, after a deadly wave of exploding pagers killed 9 people and wounded almost 3,000 more.

“This path is ongoing and separate from the difficult reckoning that the criminal enemy must await for its massacre on Tuesday,” the group said in a statement issued on Telegram.

Iran-backed Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the unprecedented security breach that saw thousands of pagers detonate across Lebanon . Israel’s military declined to comment on the blasts.

More on this in a moment, first here’s a summary of the day’s other main events.

• Among those killed on Tuesday was an 10-year-old girl, according to Lebanon’s health minister, Firass Abiad. The latest casualty figures by officials include about 2,750 wounded, with most injuries to the face and hands. Those wounded include Iran’s ambassador to Beirut, Mojtaba Amani.

• Hezbollah fighters in Syria were also injured in the attack, with several reportedly being treated in hospitals in Damascus. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards-affiliated Saberin News reported that some guards in Syria had also been killed.

• The pager explosions across Lebanon marked “an extremely concerning escalation , ” the UN’s special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said. The spokesperson for the secretary general of the United Nations, Stéphane Dujarric, noted the “extremely volatile” context.

• A Hezbollah official said the detonation of the pagers was the biggest security breach for the group in nearly a year of conflict with Israel. The blasts appeared to exploit the low-tech pagers that Hezbollah has adopted in order to prevent the targeted assassinations of its members. Lebanon’s foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, said the country was bracing for a major retaliation by Hezbollah.

• Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel. “We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression that also targeted civilians,” a statement said. The son of the Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar reportedly also died in the explosions, as did two sons of other prominent Hezbollah figures.

• There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the blasts. The attack took place just hours after Israel announced it was broadening the aims of the war sparked by the 7 October Hamas attacks to include its fight against Hezbollah.

• Lebanon’s health ministry put hospitals across the country on “maximum alert” and instructed citizens to distance themselves from wireless communication devices. Schools in Lebanon will close on Wednesday.

• The US government said it “was not aware of this incident in advance” . The state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, told a briefing that Washington was not involved and did not know who was responsible. He added it was “too early to say” how it would affect Gaza ceasefire talks.

• The Foreign Office has urged “calm heads and de-escalation” . An FCDO spokesperson said: “We continue to monitor the situation in Lebanon closely and the UK is working with diplomatic and humanitarian partners in the region. The civilian casualties following these explosions are deeply distressing.