After pager blasts, walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah explode across Lebanon; hundreds injured

A day after explosions in pagers, walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah detonated across Lebanon's capital, Beirut. Hundreds of people were reportedly wounded in the latest blasts. At least one of the blasts took place near a funeral organised by Iran-backed Hezbollah for those killed the previous day when thousands of pagers used by the militant group exploded across the country, Reuters reported on Wednesday. 

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that three people have been killed by exploding "devices" in the town of Sohmar, in the southern Bekaa Valley, according to BBC. 

Hezbollah said on Wednesday that it had attacked Israeli artillery positions with rockets in the first strike at its arch-foe since blasts wounded thousands of its members in Lebanon. The hand-held radios were purchased by Hezbollah five months ago, around the same time that the pagers were bought, a security source told Reuters. 

Israel's spy agency Mossad planted explosives inside pagers imported by Hezbollah months before Tuesday's detonations, a senior Lebanese security source and another source told the news agency. 

Tuesday's attack wounded nearly 3,000 people, including many of the militant group's fighters and Iran's envoy to Beirut. 

Hezbollah, which has been engaged in cross-border warfare against Tel Aviv since the Gaza conflict erupted last October, has vowed to retaliate against Israel. Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi accused Israel of pushing the Middle East to the brink of a regional war by orchestrating a dangerous escalation on many fronts.

"Hezbollah wants to avoid an all-out war. It still wants to avoid one. But given the scale, the impact on families, on civilians, there will be pressure for a stronger response," said Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center.

Hezbollah, Iran's most powerful proxy in the Middle East, said it would continue to support Hamas in Gaza and Israel should await a response to the pager "massacre" which left fighters and others bloodied, hospitalised or dead.