The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has called an emergency meeting for Friday to address a series of explosions involving pagers targeting Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group.
The Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which currently holds the presidency of the UNSC, announced on September 18 that the meeting was convened at Algeria’s request, representing Arab nations within the council.
On September 17, multiple pager explosions occurred almost simultaneously across Lebanon and parts of Syria, leading to significant casualties. As of now, 12 people have died, and approximately 2,800 others have been injured, with the toll expected to rise.
Israeli media, citing the Arab outlet Al-Hadath, reported that 19 members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were killed in Syria due to the pager explosions. Although Iran has denied these claims, Al-Hadath maintains that 19 IRGC members were killed and 150 were injured.
In Lebanon, a separate walkie-talkie explosion on September 18 resulted in at least three additional deaths. This incident occurred during a funeral for a Hezbollah member who had died in the previous day’s pager explosion in the Dahieh area on the outskirts of Beirut.
Combining the casualties, the total death toll from the pager and radio explosions now stands at 34.
Hezbollah utilized the pagers involved in the explosions for communication. Hezbollah, along with the Lebanese government and Iran, has accused Israel of being behind the explosions, a claim Israel has neither confirmed nor denied.
On the same day, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution demanding that Israel end its illegal occupation of Palestine within 12 months. This resolution received support from 124 of the 181 member countries participating in the vote at UN headquarters in New York. Forty-three countries, including South Korea, abstained, while 14, including Israel and the United States, opposed it.
While UN General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, they indicate increasing political and diplomatic pressure on Israel. Previously, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in July that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the pager explosions during a press conference, stating that civilian equipment should not be weaponized and urging nations to implement regulations to prevent such misuse.
