Media: Gallant called Austin minutes before pager explosions

Several minutes before the pagers started exploding across Lebanon, Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant called US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and told him Israel was about to conduct an operation in Lebanon soon, but refused to give any specific details.

According to the source, the call from the Israeli minister was an attempt to prevent a situation where the US remained completely unaware of what was happening in the Middle East, Caliber.Az reports via Axios.

CNN reports that global leaders have been scrambling to prevent an escalation. Lloyd Austin spoke twice with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant. The official would not specify when the calls took place.

“Though the two are in regular contact, it’s uncommon to schedule two calls in one day and shows how seriously the US views the current situation,” the statement said.

Note that, over 4000 people were injured, and 11 died due to the detonation of communication pagers across various neighbourhoods in Lebanon.

Thus, explosions struck the southern Beirut district of Dahiyeh, a Hezbollah stronghold, alongside reports of similar incidents in Nabatiyeh, Tyre, Beqaa, Bint Jbeil, and other areas on September 17.

The condition of 400 people injured is assessed by medics as serious.