US says it is gathering information on Lebanon pager blasts

PHOTO CAPTION: People gather outside a hospital as more than 1,000 people, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, were wounded when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon, according to a security source, in Beirut, Lebanon September 17, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Tuesday it is gathering information after at least eight people were killed and some 2,750 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members - including fighters and medics - detonated simultaneously across Lebanon.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told a regular news briefing the United States was not involved in the incidents and did not know who was responsible. Lebanon's Hezbollah threatened to punish Israel in response to the incidents.

"We are gathering information on this incident," Miller said. "I can tell you that the U.S. was not involved in it. The U.S. was not aware of this incident in advance."

"We're collecting information in the same way that journalists are across the world, to gather the facts about what might have happened," Miller added.

In response to a question, Miller said the United States was always concerned about any incident that can raise tensions in Middle East and urged Iran not to take advantage of any incident to raise instability.

Miller also said that civilians were not legitimate targets for any type of operation.



(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Kanishka Singh and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Cynthia Osterman)