Thursday Briefing: A Second Day of Explosions in Lebanon

At least 20 people were killed and hundreds were wounded when walkie-talkies owned by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon yesterday, the second attack involving booby-trapped devices in two days, according to Lebanese and Hezbollah officials.

Lebanon was already reeling from an operation on Tuesday that blew up thousands of pagers. Those blasts killed at least 12 people and wounded over 2,700 others. Residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs said the explosions yesterday did not appear to be as widespread as Tuesday’s blasts.

But the walkie-talkies were nearly three times heavier than the pagers and set off more large fires, suggesting that they might have contained more explosives, a Times analysis found.

Explosions went off at a funeral for Hezbollah fighters, and mourners were urged to remove the batteries from their devices. Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate, but its members appeared to be in shock, my colleague Ben Hubbard reported.

Israel has not confirmed or denied involvement in the attacks, but Lebanese, U.S. and other officials say that Israel was responsible for the pager blasts.

Analysis: By targeting so many devices at the same time, Israel demonstrated technical prowess and pierced Hezbollah’s reputation as a sophisticated enemy. But the long-term intent is unclear.