One day after the pager explosions, Hezbollah walkie-talkies exploded throughout Lebanon; three dead, 100 injured

“Beyond what can be described”: Doctors of horror after pager explosions

Doctors in Lebanon spoke of horrific eye injuries and finger amputations on Wednesday, a day after Hezbollah radio pagers exploded across the country, killing 12 people and injuring up to 2,800.

“The injuries mainly affected the eyes and hands. There were finger amputations and shrapnel in the eyes. Some people lost their sight,” said doctor Joelle Khadra, who worked in the emergency room at Beirut's Hotel Dieu hospital.

Hundreds of pagers belonging to members of the Iran-backed group exploded simultaneously on Tuesday, just hours after Israel said it was expanding the objectives of its Gaza war to include the fight against Hamas's Lebanese ally.

Khadra told AFP that about 80 injured people were treated at the Hotel-Dieu in the predominantly Christian district of Ashrafieh in the Lebanese capital.

About 20 of them “were immediately admitted to intensive care and put on ventilators to make sure they did not suffocate due to the swelling on their faces,” she said.

“The rest are going into the operating room one by one. Today we have 55 operations,” she added, wearing her white lab coat over her blue surgical gown.

Hezbollah, which engages in almost daily cross-border firefights with Israeli forces in support of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, has vowed retaliation for the pager explosions, for which it blamed Israel.