Pentagon says US is not not related in any way to the pager explosions in Lebanon, which killed at least 9 people and injured nearly 3,000, reported Reuters, quoted by BTA.
Washington renewed its calls for a diplomatic solution to tensions between Israel and Lebanon. At the same time, the extremist group "Hezbollah" blamed Israel for blowing up the pagers and promised retaliation, raising fears of escalation.
"As far as I know, there is no US involvement in this. Again, it's something we're monitoring,'' said Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman.
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plashart deplored the attack in Lebanon, warning that it "shows an extremely worrying escalation.
Egypt's foreign ministry released a statement saying Cairo is committed to Lebanon's security and stability and stressed that the country's sovereignty must not be violated by "any outside power".
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the explosions of hundreds of pagers in Lebanon, defining what happened as a "terrorist act", for which, according to him, Israel is to blame, DPA reported, quoted by BTA. p>
In a conversation with his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib, Iran's first diplomat offered his condolences and expressed support for Beirut.
Iran's ambassador to Lebanon was also injured in a pager explosion, but his condition is not critical, according to Iranian media.
Lebanese "Hezbollah" also blamed Israel for what happened and promised retaliatory actions, DPA recalls.
Iraq announced it was sending medical teams and doctors to help Lebanon, which was hit by simultaneous explosions of pagers carried by hundreds of members of the Islamist movement "Hezbollah". The government in Baghdad condemned what it described as a "Zionist cyber attack," according to spokesman Bassem al-Awadi, AFP reported.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered "the dispatch of Iraqi medical teams and emergency doctors to Lebanon to provide emergency care as quickly as possible to ease the pain of innocently injured civilians". "The continuous aggressions carried out by" Israel, as well as the "threat of starting a full-scale war against Lebanon", require urgent international intervention to avoid an expansion of the war, the communique added.
Lebanese Education Minister Abbas ah Halabi has called on all public and private schools in the country, including universities, to close their doors tomorrow in protest against the pager explosion. He described what happened as a "criminal act committed by the Israeli enemy against Lebanese citizens".
Pagers are small devices, a precursor to mobile phones, that allow the owner of the pager to see the number from which they were called, or to send a short message. They have been widely used since the 1980s, especially by rescue services. Some models also allow sending a reply.
"Hezbollah" uses pagers because, unlike cell phones and smartphones, they cannot be used to determine location. Activating all pagers in a given area at the same time is relatively easy, DPA notes.
Reuters reported that according to Bassem Ghanem, an adviser to the Lebanese health minister, the death toll had reached 11 and the wounded 4,000. However, the health ministry emphasized that the dead were 9 and the wounded 2,750.
US Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has called for an end to the war between Israel and Gaza and said Israel must not reoccupy the Palestinian enclave after the nearly year-long conflict ends, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
In her speech in Philadelphia to the National Association of Black Journalists, she called for a ceasefire between Israel and the militants of the Palestinian Islamist organization "Hamas". This must be followed by a two-state solution and stability in the Middle East in a way that does not increase Iran's influence, she added.
"We made it clear that this deal had to be done in the best interests of everyone in the region," said Harris, the US vice president, in response to questions from three journalists.
At least 41,252 people have been killed and 95,497 wounded in the Israeli offensive in the "Hamas" strip since October 7, according to Gaza health authorities. The war began on that day when "Hamas" attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 hostages.
Harris also lashed out at Republican candidate Donald Trump for his inflammatory remarks about migrants in Springfield, Ohio and other topics. She called on American voters to make sure he "can't speak into that microphone again,", the Associated Press reported.
Harris added that she was heartbroken by the threat of violence in the city after comments made by Trump and his campaign staff. The GOP presidential candidate has claimed, without providing evidence, that immigrants are kidnapping and eating people's pets.
Two days after Secret Service agents foiled an apparent assassination attempt against Trump, who blamed Democratic rhetoric for the latest threat to his life, Harris said that "there are too many people in our country right now who are not they feel safe".
She mentioned threats to immigrants, but also the conservative project "Project 2025" for the next Republican administration and efforts to restrict access to abortion.
"Not everyone has Secret Service," she said. "Members of the LGBTQ community don't feel safe right now, immigrants or people of immigrant background don't feel safe right now. Women don't feel safe right now."
The vice president emphasized that she personally trusts the Secret Service and feels safe under the protection of the political watchdog agency. Yesterday, she had a brief conversation with Trump, during which she said she was glad the ex-president was safe, AP recalls.