CNN —
Hundreds of members of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah were injured Tuesday in an attack targeting the pagers of Hezbollah members, a Lebanese security source told CNN.
Iran’s Ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was among those injured in Beirut, according to semi-official Iranian media outlet Mehr News.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Health has urged citizens who possess pagers to discard them and warned hospitals to be on “high alert.”
Explosions reportedly occurred in a southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh, according to Reuters news. NNA reported that “hacked” pager devices exploded in the towns of Ali Al-Nahri and Riyaq in Lebanon’s central Beqaa valley, resulting in a significant number of injuries. All three locations are Hezbollah strongholds.
The Israeli military, which has engaged in tit-for-tat strikes with Hezbollah since the start of the war in Gaza last October, said it would not be commenting on the incident.
Health workers across Lebanon were asked to report urgently to work given the “large number of injured people being transferred to hospitals” following the pager explosions, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said. Officials also called for people to donate blood in anticipation of increased need.
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CNN’s Sarah El Sirgany contributed reporting