Lebanon’s leadership has warned of a high risk of further violence and escalation after two days of attacks involving the explosion of communications equipment across the country.
Ministers told CNBC on Thursday that the next 48 hours will be particularly dangerous.
Thousands of communications devices, including pagers and two-way radios, used by members of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah exploded on Tuesday and Wednesday in what appears to be widespread vandalism. At least 37 people were killed and at least 3,000 were injured.
Hezbollah called the act an “Israeli aggression,” but Israel has not commented on the explosion. Among the injured was Iran’s Lebanese ambassador, Mojtaba Amani, and the son of a Hezbollah member of parliament was killed in the attack. Children were among the victims.
“This is definitely a very serious escalation of tensions. I don’t see any escalation of tensions that wouldn’t lead to provocation. That’s what we fear most, because what happened yesterday will only lead to further escalation of the conflict,” Lebanon’s Economy Minister Amin Salam told CNBC’s Dan Murphy on Thursday.
“This is really, really, really dangerous…. It’s 48 hours to see how the country responds.”
Hezbollah, the Shiite group that dominates much of Lebanon’s politics and is already engaged in near-daily gun battles with Israel in the country’s south, has now vowed to retaliate, raising fears of all-out war in a region already ravaged by conflict.
Hezbollah is Thousands of rockets In the nearly 12 months since Israel launched its war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip last October, Lebanese forces have invaded Israel and Israeli retaliatory attacks have killed hundreds of Hezbollah fighters and scores of Lebanese civilians, and forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes on both the Lebanese and Israeli sides of the border.
“Unprecedented unity”
Salam said the attack had led many Lebanese to support Hezbollah, even though many in the country usually oppose the group.
“This has caused a huge reaction, and those who were opposed to Hezbollah in Lebanon are now increasingly in support of Hezbollah,” the minister said.
“So the provocations spread from one group in Lebanon to the whole country. Yesterday we witnessed an unprecedented unity among Lebanese political parties in response to what happened.”
“I think what happened yesterday broke all the rules, all the boundaries,” Salam added. “It goes too far because in Lebanon this is considered a terrorist act. … That’s why I’m very concerned that this will lead to more violence and will definitely make things worse.”
CNBC also interviewed Lebanon’s Health Minister Firas Abiad, who said the attack and subsequent surge in injuries had shocked the country’s hospital system.
“After the first wave of explosions, about 2,800 patients were taken to emergency rooms, of which 12 ultimately died,” Abiad said. “Nearly 300 were in critical condition, and nearly 450 had eye and hand injuries or required amputations… More than 90 hospitals were involved in receiving the patients.”
The attack is a blow to Lebanon’s already fragile infrastructure, which suffers daily power outages, and to an economy that is one of the world’s most indebted and has been hit by a series of crises in recent years.
“We are operating in a resource-poor environment,” Abiad said. “If things go badly, it will put a huge strain on the health care system, there’s no question about that.”
A Lebanese army soldier waves as an ambulance transports wounded to a hospital in Beirut on September 17, 2024, after explosions rocked several Hezbollah positions across Lebanon amid continued cross-border tensions between Israel and Hezbollah fighters.
Anwar Amro | AFP | Getty Images
As Israel moves more soldiers and military equipment further north to the Lebanese border, U.S. officials are reportedly scrambling to find a diplomatic solution to avoid all-out war. Just hours before the first wave of pagers and other devices began exploding, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to return northern Israeli residents who fled last year to their homes.
And on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel’s focus had shifted to the northern front, marking the start of a “new phase” of the war. The Times of Israel reported the same day that the IDF’s 98th Division was deploying to northern Israel after months of fighting in the Gaza Strip.
“The Lebanese government’s position has been clear from day one that it does not want war. We have believed that a diplomatic solution is the best option,” Abiad said.
“But unfortunately, the escalation of tensions that we’ve seen over the last two days may or may not lead to a diplomatic solution.”
