How a overt attack against Hezbollah unfolded across Lebanon’s streets and malls

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. BEIRUT—At 3:25 p.m. Tuesday, two members of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah were eating lunch at a shopping mall in the Lebanese capital when the pager one of the men was carrying exploded, leaving him severely injured and bleeding from the arms and eyes.

Across town at 3:34 p.m., another blast tore through a Hezbollah office. A pager used for internal communications received a text message consisting of a series of numbers, then beeped for five seconds before detonating, throwing one man from his chair and destroying his desk, a witness said. Within minutes, hundreds of pagers issued to Hezbollah officials in Beirut and around the country exploded, killing 12 people and injuring more than 2,800, Lebanese authorities said.

Emergency rooms were flooded with blast victims. Hezbollah’s leaders blamed Israel and pledged to retaliate. Then, on Wednesday, it happened again.

This time walkie-talkies and other electronics used by the Shiite militant group began blowing up, sending a second wave of casualties into overcrowded hospitals and further undermining the Shiite militants’ ability to communicate. By the end of the day, 20 more people were dead and 450 more injured. The attacks also exposed the identities of thousands of Hezbollah operatives, many of whom worked covertly—a coup for Israeli intelligence and a likely surprise for some Hezbollah members’ relatives and neighbors.

The blasts appeared to have been one of Israel’s most ambitious covert operations, aimed at disrupting a foe that has amassed a formidable arsenal and that, since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, has regularly exchanged fire with Israeli forces across the country’s northern border. On Wednesday, the