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Lebanese cardinal condemns pager attacks as second wave terrorises the country

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The coffin of Mohammad Mahdi Ammar, who was killed amid the detonation of pagers across Lebanon, is carried during his funeral in Beirut 18 September, 2024. Mohammad Mahdi was the son of Ali Ammar, a Hezbollah member of the Lebanese Parliament. (OSV News photo/Mohamed Azakir, Reuters)

Catholic Church leaders in the Middle East condemned a second wave of explosions of hand-held devices across Lebanon and in the capital, Beirut, apparently targeting the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.

Observers said the coordinated assault followed a similar operation on 17 September that blew up thousands of pagers belonging to Hezbollah members.

Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai, patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church expressed deep sorrow over the critical developments in a 18 September statement issued by Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarchate’s Secretariat.

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According to Lebanon’s National News Agency, “Cardinal Rai voiced his profound pain over the catastrophe affecting nearly 3,000 Lebanese citizens, some of whom have died and others who remain in critical condition following an Israeli attack involving the detonation of pager devices.”

Apparently, the second day witnessed walkie-talkie radios, motorbike radios and security locks, along with other devices suspected to be detonated by Israel.

The patriarch “condemned the use of communication devices as tools for indiscriminate killing and denounced all forms of aggression against both Lebanese and Palestinian peoples, especially civilians,” the NNA reported.

Father Rifat Bader, director of the Catholic Centre for Studies and Media in Jordan, expressed concern for the mounting loss of lives as the impact of Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip broadens. “We will need an acute psychological treatment soon after the war for all the people who were there,” Father Bader told OSV News.

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