Hezbollah pager explosions latest: Nine dead in Beirut and across Lebanon as ‘hand-held radios detonate’

Nine people have been killed and at least 300 hundred have been injured after a second day of explosions in Beirut and other cities in Lebanon, with reports emerging that hand-held walkie-talkie devices have detonated.

At least one of the blasts reportedly took place near a funeral organized by Iran-backed Hezbollah for those killed the previous day when thousands of pagers used by the group exploded across the country.

Meanwhile, Israel decided to blow up the pager devices on carried by militia group Hezbollah earlier than planned over fears the operation would be discovered, US officials have said.

Twelve people including two children were killed and nearly 3,000 were wounded after the handheld devices simultaneously detonated across Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday afternoon,

“It was a use it or lose it moment,” one US official told Axios about the reasoning Israel gave the Washington for the timing of the attack.

Meanwhile, a Lebanese security source claimed Israel’s spy agency Mossad planted explosives in thousands of the devices months before they exploded.

The Iran -backed militant group has vowed to retaliate against Israel, whose military declined to comment on the blasts.