US distances itself from Lebanon pager explosions

The US was not involved in the pager explosions in Lebanon and is still gathering information about the incident, American officials said on Tuesday.

An apparent cyberattack blamed on Israel reportedly wounded the Iranian ambassador to Beirut as well as hundreds of Hezbollah fighters in the country and in Syria. The Lebanese health ministry said 2,750 people had been wounded in the explosions, 200 of them critically.

“The US was not aware of this incident in advance,” State Department Spokesman Matt Miller told reporters during a press briefing.

“We would urge Iran not to take advantage of any incident to try to add further instability and to further increase tensions in the region,” Miller added.

Washington said it was not involved, but a US official said the United States was monitoring the situation closely. The Pentagon echoed these statements, saying there was no US involvement.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to his Israeli counterpart and urged support for de-escalation along the Lebanon-Israel border using diplomatic means. The Pentagon declined to provide details on when the call took place, whether it was before or after the cyberattack.

Beirut placed the blame on Israel and Hezbollah vowed to respond.