The militia group Hezbollah promised revenge against Israel after accusing it of detonating pagers across Lebanon on Tuesday, killing nine people and wounding nearly 3,000 others including Iran’s envoy to Beirut. A girl of eight was reported to be among the dead and at least 200 people were said to be critically injured.

Lebanon’s Information Minister Ziad Makary condemned the detonation of the pagers – handheld devices that Hezbollah and others in Lebanon use to send messages – as an “Israeli aggression”. Hezbollah said Israel would receive “its fair punishment”.

Lebanon’s public health minister described the attacks as “a major escalation at a time when everybody was hoping that things were moving to a kind of cessation of hostilities or some kind of ceasefire”. He said Israel was the “obvious culprit”.

Israel has declined to comment on the cause of the explosions.

Sophie Raworth presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Paul Adams and Gordon Corera.

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