Beirut: Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has blamed Israel for explosion of thousands of pager across the country and has vowed to retaliate. The defiant reaction from the militant group came a day after the bizarre explosions that killed nine and wounded more than 3000 people in Lebanon and Iran. Those wounded also included Iran's envoy to Beirut. Hezbollah has said that Israel will receive "its fair punishment".
Even the Lebanese government has deemed the explosion to be "Israeli aggression".
Meanwhile, Iran has blamed Israel as well. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday, spoke with his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib on phone and condemned the 'Israeli terrorism'.
Lebanese officials have asked people in the country to discard pagers.
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Although the explosions are being blamed on Israel, there has not been any comment from the country or its armed forces. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have refused comment.
Hamas has expressed support for Lebanon and held Israel responsible.
"We, in the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), strongly condemn the Zionist terrorist aggression that targeted Lebanese citizens by detonating communication devices in various areas of Lebanese territories, as well as civilian and service facilities," the militant group said in a statement, as reported by CNN.
US denies involvement
The United States has said that it was 'not involved' in the pager explosions and was 'not aware in advance'.
"We are gathering information on this incident. I can tell you that the US was not involved in it. The US was not aware of this incident in advance. At this point, we're gathering information," said US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller.
Miller did not offer comment when he was asked about a possible Israeli involvement.
"I don't have any assessment one way or another at this point," he said.
Miller also refused to say the impact of explosions on situation in West Asia.
