The incident was the first of its kind since Hezbollah began trading near-daily fire with Israel in support of ally Hamas after the Palestinian group’s Oct 7 attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war.

“Dozens of Hezbollah members have been wounded in the south and in Beirut’s southern suburbs after their pagers exploded,” a source close to the group told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Another source close to Hezbollah told AFP that the incident was a result of an “Israeli breach” of its communications.

An AFP photographer in Beirut’s southern suburbs saw ambulances rushing injured Hezbollah members to hospitals in the area.

An AFP correspondent in eastern Lebanon said dozens of people had been wounded in similar incidents in the group’s Bekaa Valley stronghold.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported “an unprecedented enemy security incident” with “handheld pagers detonating” in several regions.

“Dozens of injuries were reported,” the NNA said.

Hezbollah had asked its members to avoid using mobile phones after the Gaza war began to avoid Israeli breaches of the technology.

Hezbollah members communicate through their own telecommunications system.