MOSCOW: Russia has said it strongly denounced a deadly attack that saw hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah simultaneously explode across Lebanon.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow strongly condemned the unprecedented attack on friendly Lebanon and its nationals. All parties involved in the conflict should exercise restraint, she added.
The spokeswoman said, “We strongly condemn the unprecedented assault on friendly Lebanon and its nationals, which constitutes a blatant violation of its sovereignty and a serious challenge to global law through the use of unconventional arms”.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah vowed to punish Israel for a deadly assault in which hundreds of paging devices used by the group’s members exploded almost simultaneously across Lebanon.
There was no immediate statement from Israel on the wave of blasts that killed 9 people, and injured around 2,800 others. The attack came just hours following Israel has announced it was broadening the aims of the war on Gaza to include its fight against Hamas’s ally.
Hezbollah said in a in a statement on Tuesday, “We hold the Israeli enemy completely responsible for this criminal aggression,” saying that Israel “will certainly receive its just punishment for this wicked aggression.”
