NEW YORK, September 19. /TASS/. Israeli intelligence services sent messages in Arabic to Lebanese pagers before detonating the devices, aiming to encourage more people to bring them to their faces, The New York Times reported, citing Israeli intelligence sources.

According to the report, the officers assumed that some pager owners believed the messages were from the supreme leadership of the Shiite Hezbollah movement. As a result, Lebanon was plunged into chaos, hospitals were overwhelmed, and both civilians and Hezbollah fighters were injured, the newspaper points out.

Multiple explosions of communication devices occurred in Lebanon on September 17 and 18. On the first day, a large number of pagers blew up almost simultaneously in various regions of Lebanon. According to the country’s Health Ministry, 12 people, including two children, were killed, and 2,800 more were hospitalized. On the following day, a new wave of blasts swept across Lebanon. This time, walkie-talkies, phones, fingerprint scanners, as well as devices operating on solar and lithium-ion batteries exploded. At least 20 were killed and 460 were injured in the repeat attack.