A Lebanese expert said he believes that Israel worked with other countries and foreign companies to conduct two widespread attacks in Lebanon that have killed 37 people so far.
Tuesday's pager explosions in Lebanon killed 12 people, with 2,323 others injured, Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad said at a news conference on Thursday, adding that 226 people injured on Tuesday are still hospitalized.
The death toll in explosions of hand-held radios across the country on Wednesday rose to 25 with 608 injured, Abiad said.
During an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Wednesday, Ali Omais, director of the Center for Strategic Research and Studies at Makassed University of Beirut, analyzed the causes of the explosion.
"This is a very dangerous incident because Israel was able to penetrate Hezbollah. And Hezbollah also holds Israel responsible. This issue is considered very dangerous, because Israel was able to penetrate Hezbollah's security structure. Just as it was able to penetrate the devices, it was also able to penetrate Hezbollah’s security systems and knew that they would purchase a large quantity of pagers. Because booby-trapping these pagers requires technical support from multiple parties, I believe that the Israelis cooperated with other countries and companies. Such an act also requires large devices, which may have come from the manufacturers of these pagers in the first place. So I believe that there is cooperation from several parties, including Israel, to booby-trap these devices," he said.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday in a televised speech that the deadly device explosions across Lebanon are "an act of war and a declaration of war by Israel."
Israel "violated all red lines," Nasrallah said, calling the incidents "massacres."
He stressed that Hezbollah will not stop its military operations until the conflict in the Gaza Strip ends.
Nasrallah also noted that Hezbollah has set up several internal investigation committees to conduct in-depth examinations into the explosions at the technical and security levels, in order to obtain results in a short period of time.
Lebanese expert suggests multiple parties involved in deadly pager attack
Lebanese expert suggests multiple parties involved in deadly pager attack
Organizers of China's 15th National Games unveiled the games' official slogan, emblem and mascots on Saturday to mark the one-year countdown to the start of the event, which will be held in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area city cluster in south China in 2025.
It marks the first time that Hong Kong and Macao will co-host the nation's largest, highest-level sporting event in coordination with the neighboring mainland province of Guangdong since the first edition of the games was launched in 1959.
The slogan, which goes "Passionate National Games, Vibrant Greater Bay Area", embodies the energetic spirit of the National Games while highlighting the unique collaboration among the three neighboring regions. The emblem resembles the moment a firework burst, with three colors symbolizing the iconic flowers of each region: the reddish-orange bombax for Guangdong, the pink orchid for Hong Kong, and the green lotus for Macao. At the center, a blank area subtly shapes a leaping figure as if capturing an athlete's dynamic movement.
"It's the first time for Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao to co-host the National Games, so we used three concentric petals of the iconic flowers from the three regions to form the emblem, symbolizing we are of one heart and one mind," said Liu Pingyun, chief designer of the event's emblem and mascot.
The mascots for the coming National Games and the Para Games are inspired by the Chinese white dolphin, a nationally protected wildlife species. The white mascot is named Xiyangyang, while the pink one is named Lerongrong, both symbolizing joy, harmony and unity.
"We hope to make the mascots more popular among the public through a simple and international design, so we tried our best toward a modern style. As we can see today, they are cute and lovely," Liu said.
The 15th National Games, the 12th National Games for Persons with Disabilities and the 9th National Special Olympic Games will open on November 9 and December 8, 2025 respectively.
The National Games will be held from November 9 to 21, 2025, featuring 34 competitive sports and 23 mass sports activities. Guangdong will host most of the events, while Macao will be home to four events, including table tennis and women's 3x3 basketball, and Hong Kong will host eight, including golf, fencing and beach volleyball.
China's Greater Bay Area marks one-year countdown to National Games
