— 🇷🇺/🇱🇧 Russian Foreign Ministry: 'The attack on communications devices in Lebanon is a comprehensive act of war and aims to provoke a major war in the region'

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇷/🇱🇧 NEW: The Iranian Embassy in Beirut issues a statement, debunking rumors that the embassador has injuries to his eyes, saying that he is doing well and only received superficial injuries

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇧🇪/🇱🇧 NEW: Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium Petra De Sutter: 'I strongly condemn the massive terror attack in Lebanon and Syria. An international investigation is called for.'

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇷/🇱🇧 NEW: The Head of Iran's Red Crescent is present in Beirut, after an Iranian plane landed carrying nurses, doctors, surgeons and emergency workers

Chief of the Red Crescent, Pir-Hossein Kolivand: 'The Iranian Red Crescent stands with all its strength by the side of the injured in the terrorist incident in Lebanon.

With the coordination of the Red Cross and the Ministry of Health of Lebanon and in line with humanitarian aid, we brought rescue teams and eye surgeons to Lebanon so that we can relieve the pain of the injured in this terrorist incident.

If necessary, we are ready to transfer the critically injured people to Iran for further treatment.'

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇱/🇱🇧 NEW: Israel is moving its 98th 'Ha-Esh' Paratroopers Division from Gaza to the border with Lebanon – Kann

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— Several years ago, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei ordered all Iranian military communications to be domestically produced.

Thankfully, this happened, and all pagers currently used by the IRGC / Artesh are Iranian-made. The Leader said we should not rely on 'foreign information infrastructure.'

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇱/🇵🇸 NEW: The Israeli military confirms that 4 IDF soldiers were killed and 5 were injured in an ambush in Rafah yesterday.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇱🇧 Lebanon Health Ministry: The number of wounded in Beirut and its suburbs is 1,850, 750 in the south, and 150 in the Beqaa valley

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇷/🇱🇧 NEW: Two more planes carrying Iranian doctors and specialised surgeons are headed for Lebanon

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇱/🇯🇴 Jordan Foreign Ministry: 'The peace agreement between Jordan and Israel serves the interest of Palestine, and Jordan has been one of the most helpful countries to Palestine in the entire region'

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇷 NEW: The advisor to Iran's President on religious affairs has officially proposed that a public nationwide holiday will be introduced annually on the 12th of Rabee' al-Awwal, to commemorate the Prophet's ‎ﷺ birth according to the Sunni tradition

The 17th of Rabee' al-Awwal, 5 days later than the Sunni date, is already a public holiday, as it is the birth date of the Prophet ‎ﷺ according to the Shia religious tradition.

According to the President's advisor, the holiday will be instated to promote unity and brotherhood between Shias and Sunnis.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇪🇬/🇺🇸 Egyptian Foreign Ministry in a press conference with Blinken: 'We have a strong and proud strategic relationship with the U.S. and we are looking to expand this'

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇷/🇱🇧 NEW: Dozens of heavily injured Lebanese citizens have been transfered to the Islamic Republic of Iran for treatment in specialized hospitals – Lebanon Health Ministry

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇪🇬/🇱🇧 Egyptian Foreign Minister: 'We strongly condemn and oppose any attack on Lebanon and its people'

@Middle_East_Spectator

— Please, disregard such reports. Anyone who posts this knowing it is false is clearly looking for views.

First of all, the IRGC does not carry foreign pagers, they carry Iranian-made pagers only.

Second of all, the claim of 19 killed in Syria is ridiculous, considering the fact that only 12 people officially died across all of Lebanon so far.

You're seriously trying to tell me more Iranians died in Syria than Lebanese in Lebanon, which had about 3,000 pager explosions?

Lastly, as the OG poster already mentioned, al-Hadath is a known propaganda outlet and should not be taken seriously.

— 🇮🇷 IRGC Spokesman: No IRGC members were killed or injured in the pager attack, contrary to reports.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇱/🇱🇧 NEW: Axios reports that Israel planned to explode the pagers at the eve of a 'surprise attack' on Lebanon, but had to implement the operation early

According to Israeli journalist Barak Ravid, citing U.S. and Israeli officials, Israel decided to blow up the pager devices yesterday because two Hezbollah members had raised suspicion regarding the pagers, and Israel did not want to risk the operation being discovered before being implemented.

A former Israeli official with knowledge of the operation said Israeli intelligence services planned to use the booby-trapped pagers it managed to plant in Hezbollah's ranks as a surprise opening blow in an all-out war to try to cripple Hezbollah's internal communications.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his top ministers and the heads of the Israel Defense Forces and the intelligence agencies decided to use the system now rather than take the risk of it being detected by Hezbollah, a U.S. official said.

Minutes before the attack, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called his American counterpart, Lloyd Austin, to inform him of an upcoming operation, without providing details.

https://www.axios.com/2024/09/18/hezbollah-pager-explosions-israel-suspicions

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇱/🇱🇧 Reminder: In the year 2000, a Memorandum by the British Foreign Office confirmed that Israel had been dropping explosive-laden toys in Lebanese villages

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