'Not involved, not aware in advance,' US on pager explosions in Lebanon

The United States has said that it was not involved and not aware in advance about the series of pager explosions that took place in LebanonWhile addressing a press briefing on Tuesday US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the US is gathering information about the incident that happened in LebanonSpeaking further on the incident Miller said We are gathering information on this incident I can tell you that the US was not involved in it The US was not aware of this incident in advance At this point were gathering informationMillers statement comes after Lebanons Health Minister confirmed a series of explosions across the country resulting in the deaths of at least eight people and injuring 2750 othersWhen asked what information the US has gathered he said We continue to collect information I dont have any public readout We are collecting information in the same way that journalists are across the world to gather the facts about what might have happenedIn response to another query about whether the US has any doubt about Israels involvement in the incident he said I dont have any assessment one way or another at this pointHe further said that he will not speculate on the impact of any incident particularly in the early stages He said that US wants to see diplomatic resolution to the conflict between Israel and HezbollahAsked about any message the US wants to give Israel Miller said I never want to comment or speculate about the impact of any one incident especially in the early stages of the incident I am not going to do so here that has been our policy to try to avoid doing Our overall policy remains consistent which is we do want to see a diplomatic resolution to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah We want to see one that allows the tens of thousands of Israelis who have been displaced from their homes and tens of thousands of Lebanese who have been displaced from their homes to return home Thats what we are continuing to pursueAsked if there were indications that Iran could take advantage given reports that the Iranian ambassador in Lebanon was injured Matthew Miller said he did not want to speculate until those reports were confirmed He said that the US would urge Iran not to take advantage of any incident to try to further increase tensions in the regionI have seen the reports I dont want to speak to what the implications might be before a report is confirmed But certainly as is always the case we would urge Iran not to take advantage of any incident any instability to try to add further instability and to further increase tensions in the region That has been our message to Iran since October 7 he saidThe blasts in Lebanon were caused by exploding handheld pagers according to a report by Al Jazeera Lebanons Health Minister Firass Abiad informed that 200 people are in critical condition after the communication devices exploded on Tuesday He also said that the victims are receiving treatment in over 150 hospitalsIn a statement earlier on Tuesday Hezbollah said that pagers belonging to employees of various Hezbollah units and institutions exploded killing two of its fighters and a girl The group further said that it was investigating to determine the causes of the explosionsA Hezbollah official speaking on the condition of anonymity described the explosion of handheld pagers as the organisations biggest security breach in nearly a year according to Al JazeeraNo official statement has been released by the Israeli military regarding the explosions in Lebanon Earlier Arab media had reported that some 1000 Hezbollah operatives so far have been injured by exploding pagers and radiosReports suggest that Hezbollah figures in Syria were also injured in the apparently simultaneous blasts Irans ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani was injured by the explosion of an electronic pager Al Jazeera reportedSocial media is rife with videos that caught the explosions their aftermath and chaos in Lebanese hospitals Unverified Arab media reports have attributed the blasts to an Israeli cyber attackIrans ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani was slightly injured by the explosion of an electronic pager Al Jazeera reportedNotably Israels Security Cabinet on Monday night updated its official war goals Israels ongoing war with Hamas in Gazas goals includes the objective of allowing residents of the north to return safely to their homes after being displaced by attacks by Hezbollah according to Israels Prime Ministers Office The Times of Israel reportedIn a statement Israels Prime Ministers Office stated The safe return of the residents of the north to their homes has now been added as a fourth objective to the war The Times of Israel reportedAfter a latenight meeting of the security cabinet in Tel Aviv on Monday the statement said Israel will continue to act to achieve this goal Notably Israel has been engaged in a conflict with Hamas following the October 7 attacksThis story has been sourced from a 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