Iraqi aid sent to Lebanon following beeper explosions on Sept. 18. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Caretaker Health Minister Firas Abiad said Wednesday that 12 people, including two children and two medical workers, were killed in Tuesday’s pager explosions. Between 2,750 and 2,800 people were injured, with 300 in critical condition. Of those wounded, 750 were in southern Lebanon, 150 in the Bekaa, and 1,850 in Beirut.
On Tuesday, Hezbollah suffered a major setback when a coordinated Israeli operation triggered the simultaneous explosion of thousands of its pagers across Lebanon.
Several people injured in the blasts were transferred to Syria and Iran for treatment, reported local media citing Abiad.
Local media also cited Abiad saying that 460 surgeries have been performed on those affected by the explosions, most of them involving eye injuries.
Earlier on Wednesday, 20 doctors and health workers from Iraq arrived at Beirut international airport to offer assistance in solidarity with Lebanon. They were accompanied by more than 15 tons of emergency supplies and medicines, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA).
Abiad praised Iraq's "generosity," noting that his Iraqi counterpart "quickly contacted him from the first moment of the Israeli aggression on Tuesday afternoon," the NNA reported.
"Lebanon is awaiting the arrival of 70 tons of additional aid," Abiad added.
Meanwhile, Fadel al-Rubaie, the representative of Iraq’s health minister who also arrived in Lebanon after yesterday's incident, said Iraq was "fulfilling its national, Arab, and Islamic duty."
“The [Iraqi] Prime Minister formed a crisis cell with the Iraqi health minister and doctors in Iraq, instructing them to treat Lebanese hospitals as Iraqi ones and provide them with whatever is needed in these emergency circumstances,” al-Rubaie said.
Al-Rubaie added that "there are Iraqi hospitals that specialize in eyes and are ready to receive the wounded that Lebanon wants to evacuate, with the preparation of evacuation planes."
He added that Iraqi hospitals specializing in eye care are ready to receive any wounded Lebanon wishes to evacuate, with evacuation planes already being prepared.
Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging fire along the Lebanese-Israeli border since October, amid the ongoing war in Gaza. Tuesday's pager explosions have raised concerns about a potential escalation in the conflict.
