Hundreds of Hezbollah members reportedly injured by exploding pagers

Hundreds of members of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah have reportedly been injured after handheld pagers they use to communicate exploded.

Lebanon’s state news agency said there were blasts in the southern suburbs of Beirut and several other areas. Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV also said many pagers had exploded, without identifying those hurt.

Videos and photos on social media appeared to show wounded men sitting or lying on floors and others being rushed to hospitals. Unconfirmed CCTV footage showed blasts in shops.

A Hezbollah official told Reuters news agency it constituted the “biggest security breach yet” since hostilities with Israel escalated 11 months ago in parallel with the Gaza war.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

However, the events come hours after Israel’s security cabinet made the safe return of 60,000 residents displaced in the north by Hezbollah attacks an official war goal.

“The security cabinet has updated the objectives of the war to include the following: Returning the residents of the north securely to their homes,” the prime minister’s office said. “Israel will continue to act to implement this objective.”

On Monday, Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said the only way to return Israel’s northern residents was through “military action”, during a meeting with US envoy Amos Hochstein.

“The possibility for an agreement is running out as Hezbollah continues to ‘tie itself’ to Hamas, and refuses to end the conflict,” a statement from his office said.

Israel has repeatedly warned it could launch a military operation to drive Hezbollah away from the border.

There have been almost daily exchanges of fire across the frontier since the day after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza on 7 October.

Hezbollah has said it is acting in support of the Palestinian group. Both are backed by Iran and proscribed as terrorist organisations by Israel, the UK and other countries.

Since October, at least 589 people have been killed – the vast majority of them Hezbollah fighters – according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

On the Israeli side, 25 civilians and 21 members of security forces have been killed, the Israeli government says.