New wave of explosions hits walkie talkies in Lebanon (VIDEO)

A new series of extraordinary explosions aimed at Hezbollah – this time targeting walkie-talkies – has killed at least 20 and wounded more than 450 in cities across Lebanon, as international observers warned that the simultaneous detonation of thousands of booby-trapped communications devices may constitute a war crime.

The targeted detonations of the walkie-talkies came one day after more than 2,800 were injured and 12 killed by exploding pagers in an attack blamed on Israel that world leaders and diplomats have warned could lead to an all-out conflict between Israel and the powerful militant group despite efforts by the US and UN to avert an escalation with Hezbollah.

A source in Hezbollah confirmed that walkie-talkies used by the group were targeted in Wednesday’s attack. A senior security source said the individual explosions were “small in size”, similar to Tuesday’s attacks.

UN secretary general António Guterres condemned the attacks and called for restraint from both Hezbollah and Israel, while the UN security council was convened to meet on Friday to discuss the unprecedented operations in what appeared to be a massive supply chain breach by Israeli intelligence.

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Meanwhile, diplomats and human rights organisations warned that the strikes, which targeted thousands of pagers and hundreds of walkie-talkies ordered by Hezbollah, were indiscriminate and violated human rights law.

“Simultaneous targeting of thousands of individuals, whether civilians or members of armed groups, without knowledge as to who was in possession of the targeted devices, their location and their surroundings at the time of the attack, violates international human rights law and, to the extent applicable, international humanitarian law,” said Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, in a statement.

“Customary international humanitarian law prohibits the use of booby traps – objects that civilians are likely to be attracted to or are associated with normal civilian daily use – precisely to avoid putting civilians at grave risk and produce the devastating scenes that continue to unfold across Lebanon today,” said Lama Fakih, Middle East and north Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The use of an explosive device whose exact location could not be reliably known would be unlawfully indiscriminate, using a means of attack that could not be directed at a specific military target and as a result would strike military targets and civilians without distinction.”

“A prompt and impartial investigation into the attacks should be urgently conducted,” Fakih said.

The fresh waves of strikes marked a second day of chaos in Lebanon and in particular in Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut, where one of the walkie-talkies exploded at a funeral for three Hezbollah members and a child who had been killed by an exploding pager the day before.

Twenty people were killed and at least 450 injured as a result of the new round of explosions, Lebanon’s health ministry said. The ministry added that first responders had almost finished transferring people to hospitals.

Several solar power systems exploded in people’s homes across Lebanon, according to the National News Agency, injuring at least one girl in the town of al-Zahrani, south Lebanon. Pictures of exploded solar panels, fingerprint readers and other devices circulated on social media, though it was unclear whether they blew up by themselves or were near walkie-talkies that exploded.

Images of the exploded walkie-talkies examined by Reuters showed an inside panel labeled “ICOM” and “made in Japan.”

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Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have blamed Israel for Tuesday’s attack, with the former threatening a “fair punishment” for the explosion.

Pictures showed broken and singed communication devices amid scenes of destruction. The Guardian saw multiple pictures of an Icom IC-V82 two-way radio that had seemingly exploded.

In a video, a member of Hezbollah in the southern suburb of Beirut can be seen taking part in a funeral for fighters killed on Tuesday when a blast occurs somewhere on his body, knocking him to the ground and sending the crowd around him running.

While paramedics rushed to evacuate wounded from affected areas, a group of men attacked a UN peacekeeping patrol transiting through the city of Tyre in south Lebanon. A video showed men throwing stones at two UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) armoured personnel carriers on the side of one of the main thoroughfares in the city.

“The situation is under control right now. The Lebanese armed forces intervened but this is a serious breach of our freedom of movements,” Unifil spokesperson Andrea Teneti told the Guardian, adding that no injuries occurred, but there were material damages.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for either of the attacks, but reports suggest it managed to place explosives in thousands of pagers bought by Hezbollah.