Walkie-talkies explode in Lebanon in second wave of attacks (Updated)

Walkie-talkies exploded across Lebanon on Wednesday. The new attack came just a day after thousands of pagers exploded on Tuesday. The attack was part of a coordinated attack believed to have been orchestrated by Israel.

Shortly after 5 p.m. local time, videos and images of the explosions began circulating on social media. One widely shared video showed some sort of explosion in a large crowd. Reuters later confirmed that handheld radios had exploded across the country. Lebanon's Health Ministry reported that the new wave of explosions had killed 14 people and injured 450 others.

You gave me the opportunity to search for the software pic.twitter.com/jNYyKHhzDq

— Al Jadeed News (@ALJADEEEDNEWS) 18 September 2024

Reuters also reported that there had been thousands of explosions across Lebanon and that the walkie-talkies used were part of a shipment Hezbollah received five months ago, around the same time it acquired the gold Apollo pagers used in yesterday's attack.

Photos of the devices on Telegram appear to show an ICOM IC-V82 walkie-talkie. Photos of the walkie-talkie show a prominent “Made in Japan” label, but it is not yet known where they came from. ICOM no longer sells the IC-V82 and the item is listed as “discontinued” on some third-party websites. Another video of the aftermath showed that the front of the walkie-talkie was mostly intact and the back completely exploded, leading to speculation that the battery could be the cause of the explosion.

Now another series of explosions in #LebanonTelekom devices “Walkie Talkie” have reportedly exploded in #Beirut and various other areas of #Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/zcgMYvgx00

— Nikhil Choudhary (@NikhilCh_) 18 September 2024

With the news of the explosions came unconfirmed reports of other electronic devices detonating across the country. Rumors spread on Telegram and other social media platforms that routers, smartphones and even solar panels had also exploded. The Lebanese National News Agency reported that several solar panels exploded across the country, one of which injured a young girl.

An image of a damaged iPhone has been circulating on social media, purporting to be one of the exploded devices. However, the photo comes from a 2021 Egyptian report about an iPhone that allegedly exploded while charging, and has nothing to do with the recent attacks.

Israel and Lebanon have been fighting each other for five decades, but since October 7, attacks between the neighboring countries have increased. Hezbollah has fired rockets at Israel and Israel has repeatedly threatened retaliation. As with Tuesday's beeper explosions, Israel has not claimed responsibility for the walkie-talkie attacks, but they are the only likely suspect.

Following the explosions on Wednesday, the Israeli army withdrew some of its troops from Gaza to the northern border with Lebanon.