US distances itself from Lebanon pager explosions, calls for calm

The US was not involved in the pager explosions in Lebanon and is still gathering information about the incident, the State Department said Tuesday.

An apparent cyberattack blamed on Israel reportedly killed a Hezbollah lawmaker’s son, wounded the Iranian ambassador to Beirut as well as hundreds of Hezbollah fighters in the country and in Syria. The Lebanese health ministry said 2,750 people had been wounded in the explosions, 200 of them critically. Several Hezbollah fighters or members were reportedly killed.

“The US was not aware of this incident in advance,” State Department Spokesman Matt Miller told reporters during a press briefing.

“We would urge Iran not to take advantage of any incident to try to add further instability and to further increase tensions in the region,” Miller added.

Washington said it was not involved, but a US official told Al Arabiya English that the United States was monitoring the situation closely.

Beirut placed the blame on Israel and Hezbollah vowed to respond. Iraq’s Kata’ib Hezbollah offered to send fighters to Lebanon.