Walkie-Talkies Explode in Lebanon as Part of a Second Wave of Attacks

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Walkie-talkies exploded across Lebanon on Wednesday. The new attack came just one day after thousands of beepers exploded on Tuesday as part of a coordinated attack thought to be orchestrated by Israel.

Video and images of the explosions began to circulate on social media just after 5 p.m. local time. One widely shared video showed what appeared to be an explosion in a large crowd of people. Reuters later confirmed that handheld radios had exploded across the country. The Lebanese Health Ministry reported that the new wave of explosions had killed nine people and injured 300 more.

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

Photos of the devices on Telegram seem to show an ICOM IC-V82 walkie-talkie. Photos of the walkie-talkie show a prominent “made in Japan” label, but it isn’t known yet where they came from. ICOM no longer sells the IC-V82 and the item is listed as “discontinued” on some third-party seller sites. Another video of the aftermath showed the front of the walkie-talkie mostly intact and the back completely exploded, leading to speculation that the battery might be the source of the explosion.

As news of the explosions spread, so too did unconfirmed reports of other electronics detonating across the country. Rumors spread across Telegram and other social media platforms that routers, smartphones, and even solar panels had exploded as well. Lebanon’s National News Agency is reporting that several solar panel systems have exploded across the country and that one of them injured a young girl.

One image of a damaged iPhone has spread across social media, purporting to be one of the devices that exploded. But the photo is from a 2021 story out of Egypt about an iPhone that allegedly exploded while it was charging and is completely unrelated to the recent attacks.

Israel and Lebanon have been fighting for five decades, but the attacks between the neighboring countries have increased since October 7. Hezbollah has launched rockets into Israel and Israel has repeatedly threatened to retaliate. Like the beeper explosions on Tuesday, Israel has not claimed responsibility for the walkie-talkie attacks but they are the only likely suspect.

In the aftermath of the explosions on Wednesday, the Israeli army diverted some of its troops from Gaza to its northern border with Lebanon.