Iranian ambassador to Lebanon lost an eye in pager explosion targeting Hezbollah

(September 18, 2024 / JNS) — Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon lost one eye and suffered serious injury to the other when a pager he was carrying exploded on Tuesday, amid a nationwide attack targeting Tehran’s terror proxy Hezbollah.

Two members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps briefed on the attack confirmed the extent of Mojtaba Amani’s injuries to The New York Times, saying that they were more serious than initially reported and that he was being transported to Tehran for treatment.

Hossein Soleimani, the editor-in-chief of Mashregh, the main IRGC news website, tweeted, “Unfortunately, the injuries inflicted on the Iranian ambassador in the eye area were very severe.”

A video published by Iranian news media outlets of Amani being transported to the hospital shows him on a street in Beirut in the chaotic aftermath of the attack with his eyes covered with bandages and the front of his white shirt covered in blood.

According to Iranian media reports, two of Amani’s bodyguards were also wounded when their pagers exploded.

One of the IRGC members told the Times that the pagers beeped for around 10 seconds before exploding, prompting some to put the pagers close to their faces to check for a message.

The two IRGC members also said that the pagers were only used by Hezbollah members.

At least nine Hezbollah terrorists were killed and some 3,000 wounded in Lebanon when their pagers detonated, along with at least 14 other terrorists in neighbouring Syria, according to unconfirmed reports. Senior Hezbollah officials were said to have been wounded in the blasts.

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