Lebanon was rocked by a second day of coordinated blasts which targeted the communication equipment of Hezbollah members, killing 20 people and wounding 450 according to the Lebanese health ministry and media reports.
Images published on social media appeared to show that the source of the blasts included Icom IC-V82 two-way radios, also known as walkie-talkies.
The attacks come a day after pagers carried by Hezbollah members blew up across the country and neighbouring Syria in a likely Israeli attack which killed 12 people including at least two children and left up to 300 people in critical condition.
Mojtaba Amani, Tehran's ambassador to Beirut, was among the casualties of the first blasts on Tuesday. A pager he was carrying detonated, resulting in the loss of his left eye and severe damage to his right, according to sources from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps cited in the New York Times.
"I am honored that my blood has mixed with the blood of the injured Lebanese," Amani was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.
Video footage circulating on social media appeared to show a new explosion hitting a funeral staffed by personnel in Hezbollah parade uniforms for a person killed the previous day.
Hezbollah, which is armed and backed by Iran, blamed Israel for the attacks and vowed retaliation.
“These attacks will certainly be uniquely punished; there will be a bloodily unique revenge," Hezbollah deputy secretary general Hashim Safi Al Din said on Wednesday, asking that the group's chief Hassan Nasrallah would address the attacks in a speech on Thursday.
Israel and Lebanon have been trading fire across their border since Hezbollah's Palestinian allies Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, kicking off a war in Gaza.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian condemned the original pager blasts and Israel's allies.
“Western countries and the Americans … fully support the crimes, killings and indiscriminate assassinations of the Zionist regime,” Pezeshkian said in a statement, referring to Israel.
Hezbollah has long been Iran’s strongest ally in Lebanon and a central figure in its broader regional strategy to confront Israel and the United States.
The group was founded in the 1980s with direct Iranian assistance, particularly through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), to fight Israeli forces occupying south Lebanon. Since then, Hezbollah has grown into both a political force in Lebanon and a powerful militia that frequently engages in conflict with Israel.
The United States, Israel's main backer, has denied any hand or foreknowledge of the alleged attacks and has urged against any escalation of tensions.
"We still believe there is a diplomatic path forward, particularly with Lebanon," he said," White House national security spokesman John Kirby.
